The motion picture industry's most coveted award, Oscar, was created 60 years ago and 1,816 of the statuettes have been produced so far. Weighing 8{ pounds and standing 13{ inches tall, Oscar was created by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios art director Cedric Gibbons, who went on to win 11 of the trophies. Oscar, manufactured by the R.S. Owens Co., Chicago, is made of Britannia metal, copper plate, nickel plate and gold plate. From 1942 to 1944, the trophy was made of plaster, but winners were later presented with the real thing. According to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the only engraving mistake was in 1938 when the best actor trophy given to Spencer Tracy for "Boy's Town" read: "Best Actor: Dick Tracy." The Academy holds all the rights on the statue and "reserves the right to buy back an Oscar before someone takes it to a pawn shop," said Academy spokesman Bob Werden. The most-nominated film was "All About Eve" in 1950. It got 14 nominations. "Ben-Hur" in 1959 was the most-awarded film with 11, and Walt Disney was the most-awarded person with 32. 
 Debi Thomas' dream of Olympic gold turned into disappointment Saturday as East Germany's Katarina Witt won her second straight Olympic championship and Canadian Elizabeth Manley took home the silver before a crowd of cheering countrymen. "It's over. Back to school," said Thomas, who won the bronze medal despite three faulty landings. "I'm not going to make any excuses. I was really skating well this week. It wasn't supposed to happen, I guess. But I tried." While the top two skaters in the world staged a shootout to music from Bizet's "Carmen," Manley was so sensational in the freestyle that she finished first with seven judges. Combined with a fourth in the compulsory figures and a third-place finish in the short program earlier in the week, the performance put Manley in second place. Witt, a three-time world champion from East Germany, became the first repeat singles champion since Dick Button took Olympic gold in 1948 and '52. Sonja Henie of Norway was the only woman to do it before Witt, winning in 1928, 1932 and 1936. Thomas, of San Jose, Calif., the first black to win a U.S. figure skating crown and the 1986 world champion, skated poorly Saturday after doing well earlier in the Games. By contrast, Manley had the sellout crowd at the Olympic Saddledome enraptured. They cheered, hooted and stamped their feet when she finished hitting every element of her program. Jill Trenary of Minnetonka, Minn., finished fourth. She was fifth heading into the long program, worth 50 percent of the overall score. Thomas' bronze was the third figure skating medal here for the United States. Brian Boitano won the men's crown, and a bronze in pairs went to Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard. In addition to the three figure skating medals, the U.S. team had three speed-skating medals: one each gold, silver and bronze. Speed skater Bonnie Blair, America's only double medalist, tried again Saturday in the 1,500 meters but finished fourth, well off the pace. She won the gold in the 500 and the bronze in the 1,000 meters. As the Olympics winded up its next-to-last day, the Soviet Union had 27 medals, including 11 golds, while East Germany in second place had 22, including nine golds. 
 Time ran out for the U.S. athletes when the Winter Olympics ended Sunday, with a team headed by Brent Rushlaw a tick away from a U.S. bobsled medal and Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip a triple gold medalist with time to spare. The best America could do was six medals, its worst Winter Games showing in 52 years. Two of the six were gold medals, won by Brian Boitano in figure skating and Bonnie Blair in speed skating. Blair also won a bronze in speed skating, making her America's only double winner. The Olympics wrapped up Sunday evening with a rousing closing ceremony before 60,000 people in McMahon Stadium. The 250 figure skaters who performed included past and present medal winners as well as young skaters from Albertville, France, site of the 1992 Winter Games, and Seoul, South Korea, site of this year's summer Games. Athletes marched in carrying miniature Olympic torches, and banners reading "Until We Meet Again" in eight languages were draped along the top of the stands. Earlier Sunday, Rushlaw and his three team members missed winning the first U.S. bobsled medal in 32 years when they was beaten by .02 seconds for the bronze. Van Gennip took more than six seconds off her own world record in the 5,000 meters to win her third gold medal. American Mary Docter was 22.87 seconds behind. East Germans finished 2-3 in the race. Finland won the hockey silver medal, handing the Soviets their first loss of the Games, 2-1. The Soviets clinched the gold medal Friday night, and America finished seventh for the second straight time. In 1936, America won just four medals, but only 51 were available then. This time, 138 medals were handed out. The Soviets finished first in both number of gold medals, with 11, and total medals, with 29, a record for the Winter Olympics. East Germany's athletes won nine golds, 25 overall; while Switzerland's team came in third in both gold medals, five, and overall medals, 15. Four other teams also bested the United States in terms of overall medals: Austria, West Germany, Finland and the Netherlands. 
 With no seats and no food for the guests of honor, everyone agreed that lunch at Sardi's had gone to the dogs. Two dogs, to be specific, the city's top police dog and the nation's top show dog. The Dog Fanciers Club organized the event Wednesday to honor Champion Great Elms Prince Charming II, a fluffy little Pomeranian, and Nero, a big, amiable bruiser of a German shepherd. "He's a very friendly dog," said Nero's master, Officer Joseph Faraguna. "In all the arrests I've made with him, he's only bitten four times." Nero specializes in sniffing out bombs and narcotics. He has helped the Police Department make hundreds of arrests and has "apprehended" more than 50 felons. Nero was kept on his long leather leash while Prince emerged from his elegant, padded carrying case only long enough to pose for photographers. The Pomeranian was named best in show at the prestigious Westminister Kennel Club Show in Madison Square Garden last month. Prince, long used to being coddled and primped, seemed oblivious to all the attention until Nero grew bold enough to prod him on the chin. Then he blinked and drew back. But neither Nero nor Prince got any lunch from the luncheon at Sardi's, a prominent midtown Manhattan restaurant. Prince, said his agent and master Skip Piazza, "doesn't have a very large diet anyway." 
 The communist world gets its first McDonald's next week, and some people here are wondering whether its American hamburgers will be as popular as the local fast-food treat, Pljeskavica. The long-awaited opening of the restaurant on one of Belgrade's main downtown squares will take place March 24, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reported, and it will offer Big Macs, fries and the other specialities familiar to McDonald's customers in the West. The Belgrade media have suggested that the success of the American restaurant depends on its acceptance by Yugoslavians who are long accustomed to the hamburger-like Pljeskavica. Pljeskavica is made of ground pork and onions, and it is served on bread and eaten with the hands. It is sold at fast-food restaurants across the country and costs about a dollar. "In fact, this is a clash between the Big Mac and Pljeskavica," said an official of Genex, Yugoslavia's largest state-run enterprise that will operate the McDonald's. John Onoda, a spokesman at McDonald's Oak Brook, Ill., headquarters, said it was the first of the chain's outlets in a communist country. The next East European McDonald's is scheduled to be opened in Budapest, Hungary, by the end of this year, said Vesna Milosevic, another Genex official. Negotiations have been going on for years for expanding the fast-food chain to the Soviet Union, but no agreement has been announced. 
 Communism suffered its first Big Mac attack Thursday as McDonald's opened a restaurant in Yugoslavia, and police were called in to keep customers who lined up for hours from getting too unruly under the golden arches. "I just wanted to taste genuine American hamburgers," said Milica Nikolic, a high school student who waited for three hours to taste her first Big Mac. People curiously examined the renovated restaurant's plush interior and the back-lit signs depicting the hamburgers, french fries, milk shakes and other fare more familiar in the West. It also featured amber-colored tables and floors, pastel-colored upholstery, modern art paintings and discreet illumination. The fast-food outlet, located on a downtown square, had drawn crowds in recent days, and they began gathering long before it opened Thursday. Police kept watch on the lines of customers snaking around the block, and they regulated the number who came inside to avoid overcrowding. "No opening of a restaurant in Belgrade has created such a sensation as this one today," one policeman said. "I think this restaurant has no competition in Belgrade," said Milica Danic, a housewife who treated her son to a cheeseburger. "It is much cleaner, the service is faster, the interior is nicer and it is not too expensive." The Belgrade media have suggested that the success of McDonald's in Yugoslavia depends on its acceptance by citizens long accustomed to a hamburger-like fast-food dish called the Pljeskavica: ground pork and onions on a bun. "In fact, this is a clash between the Big Mac and Pljeskavica," said Vesna Milosevic, an official of Genex, a Yugoslav state-run enterprise that has contracted a joint venture agreement with McDonald's. "Our aim is not to destroy the Pljeskavica on the Yugoslav market," said Predrag Dostanic, managing director of the Genex-McDonald's. "We want to change customs of the local people used to completly different eating habits." He said that lounging at tables for a long time after a finished meal will draw a warning. Also, smoking is forbidden and alcohol will not be served. This contrasts sharply with the Balkan and Yugoslav custom of sitting with a drink in smoke-filled restaurants and chatting with friends after the meal. The Big Mac meal, consisting of a hamburger, soft drink and french fries costs the equivalent of $2.57, or about as much the similar meal would cost in numerous Pljeskavica joints around town. Sadik Seljami, a waiter in a small Pljeskavica outlet just a few hundred yards from the McDonald's, suggested that the American restaurant wants to drive Yugoslav fast-food outlets out of business. "However, we will not give up the fight even if we have to lower the prices," said Seljami. Glen Cook, an executive of the McDonald's Corp., said during the opening ceremonies, "We are very excited about the opening of this restaurant, not only because it is the first one in a communist country, but also because it is one of the nicest in Europe." McDonald's and Genex contribute $1 million each for the flagship restaurant. They will also share the profits equally even though it will be managed entirely by Yugoslavs. The restaurant has 350 seats and employs 110 people capable of serving 2,500 meals per hour. In an effort to keep a high level of services, the management is entitled to fire any employees who fail to perform. The American corporation plans to open five additional restaurants Yugoslavia in the next five years. The next East European McDonald's, and the first in a Soviet bloc country, is to open next month in Budapest, Hungary. 
 What do Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg have in common? They have never won Academy Awards for their individual achievements. Such flagrant omissions are often cited by critics as evidence of the unfairness of Hollywood's highest prize. Oscar's 60-year history is filled with examples of the film world's highest achievers being overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The latest casualties are directors James L. Brooks, whose movie "Broadcast News" was nominated though he wasn't, and Spielberg who was left out in the cold with his "Empire of the Sun." Although "Broadcast News" won seven major nominations, including best picture and three acting categories, Brooks was strangely overlooked by the Academy's directing branch. Since no movie has ever won a best picture Oscar without its director at least being nominated, the chances of the once-favored "Broadcast News" to be a big winner at the awards ceremony on April 11 have been significantly reduced. Brooks did better in 1984 when his "Terms of Endearment" took the lion's share of Oscars, including best picture and director. Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" won six nominations this year, none of them major and none for director. Two years ago, "The Color Purple" received 11 nominations but not for him as director. The Directors Guild nevertheless named him best director that year. "I'm floored by this," Spielberg said upon receiving his DGA award. "This is the last thing I expected to happen. ... If some of you are making a statement _ thank God _ I thank you for that." Why the Spielberg slight? Some observers cite the fact that only 257 directors nominate for the Academy Awards, and many are veterans who might not look kindly on the young man whose films are the biggest moneymakers in history ("Jaws," "E.T.," "Raiders of the Lost Ark"). The Academy appeared to make amends last year by presenting Spielberg with the Irving Thalberg award for "consistently high quality of production." There was no mention of the fact that Spielberg is primarily a director, not a producer. The Thalberg award has come in handy to acknowledge giants who were overlooked for individual awards. The recipients have included Cecil B. DeMille, Stanley Kramer, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman and Mervyn Leroy. The honorary award has also proved useful to salve the Academy's conscience. Charlie Chaplin received one at the first Academy Awards for his creation of "The Circus" and again at the 44th awards for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century." Douglas Fairbanks, Judy Garland, Noel Coward, Ernst Lubitsch, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Harold Lloyd, Greta Garbo, Maurice Chevalier, Stan Laurel, Cary Grant, Lillian Gish, Edward G. Robinson, Groucho Marx, Howard Hawks and Jean Renoir are others who have received honorary awards. Cary Grant once remarked that he never expected to win an Academy Award. "I'd have to blacken my teeth first," he quipped, alluding to the Academy's fondness for actors who portray bums and downtrodden characters. Alfred Hitchcock also had a lighthearted comment on why he failed to win an Oscar: "I suppose it was a matter of carelessness." The overlooking of classic films and the industry's most talented filmmakers has provided historians with cause for dispute. For example, "Citizen Kane," which customarily places No. 1 on polls of the greatest American films, was nominated in 1941 for best picture (there were 10 nominees in those days), for Orson Welles' performance, direction and co-scripting with Herman Mankiewicz, Gregg Toland's camera work, plus art direction, sound, music and editing. The only Oscar for "Citizen Kane" was for the script. "How Green Was My Valley" was named best picture. Billy Wilder's classic comedy, "Some Like It Hot," failed to be nominated as best picture, as did Chaplin's "Modern Times," Hawks' "Red River" and Woody Allen's "Manhattan." Oh, well. Oscar might use Joe E. Brown's final line from "Some Like It Hot": "Nobody's perfect." 
 HOLLYWOOD (AP) _ Like all great contests, the annual Academy Awards ceremony has generated a wealth of statistics and trivia over its 60 years of existence, all carefully chronicled by Oscar historians. Here, courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, are 20 questions about Oscar: 1. What actress has received the most Oscars? Katharine Hepburn, 4. 2. What actor has received the most Oscars? Walter Brennan, 3. 3. What director has received the most Oscars? John Ford, 4. 4. Who is the most nominated actress? Katharine Hepburn, 12. 5. Who is the most nominated actor? Laurence Olivier, 10. 6. Who is the most nominated director? William Wyler, 12. 7. How long was the longest Oscar ceremony? 3 hours, 45 minutes in 1985. 8. What film has won the most Oscars? "Ben-Hur," 11, 1959. 9. What was the most nominated picture? "Gone With The Wind," "Mary Poppins" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," each with 13. 10. What studio has won the most Oscars? MGM, with nearly 200. 11. Who was the youngest performer to win an Oscar? Tatum O'Neal, 10, supporting actress, "Paper Moon," 1973. 12. Who was the oldest performer ever to win an Oscar? Groucho Marx, 83, an honorary award in 1974. George Burns is the oldest actor to win a performing Oscar, 80, for the "The Sunshine Boys" in 1976. 13. What actor won a posthumous award? Peter Finch, "Network," 1976. 14. What father-son team won Oscars in the same picture? Walter Huston, supporting actor, and John Huston, director-writer, "The Treasure of Sierra Madre," 1948. 15. What actor was nominated in two categories for the same role? Barry Fitzgerald, "Going My Way," 1944. He won in the supporting category. 16. Who decapitated his Oscar while practicing golf swings indoors? Barry Fitzgerald. His 1944 supporting actor statuette was subsequently replaced by the Academy. 17. What performers have refused their Oscars? George C. Scott and Marlon Brando. 18. How many people view the Oscar ceremony on television? Last year, the Oscarcast was seen by one billion people in 79 countries. 19. Who holds the record for the fastest televised reading of the famed Academy rules? Actor-comedian John (Federal Express) Moschitta, 25 seconds, 1983. 20. What multiple Oscar winner has never appeared to collect her award? Katharine Hepburn, all four times. 
 New treatments that stop a heart attack in its tracks may help victims to get out of the hospital more quickly than ever before, perhaps even three days after their attacks, a study published today concludes. Doctors from the University of Michigan Medical Center studied the effects of sending a few carefully selected heart patients home early. They found that these people had no unusual complications, got back to work sooner and had substantially lower medical bills. "It was an extraordinarily safe strategy," said Dr. Eric J. Topol, the study's director. "There were no problems with any serious events." Topol said the early discharges were made possible by two recent medical advances _ tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA, and angioplasty. When given quickly after a heart attack, TPA can dissolve clots in the heart's arteries and minimize damage. Angioplasty can produce similar results by opening up the clogged arteries with tiny balloons. The report represents the latest in a steady three-decade trend of sending heart attack patients home from the hospital after ever shorter stays. However, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said more research is needed before the findings are widely adopted. In the 1950s, doctors often recommended that patients stay in bed for one to two months after a heart attack. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered an uncomplicated heart attack in 1955, he spent seven weeks recovering in the hospital. However, doctors learned that long inactivity did more harm than good. Patients got out of shape, developed blood clots and became demoralized. In the 1960s, the stay was shortened to three weeks and in the 1970s to two weeks. Now, doctors typically keep heart attack patients hospitalized seven to 10 days. In their paper, the doctors determined that 80 of the 507 heart attack patients studied were healthy enough to be considered for early discharge. None of them had irregular heart beats, chest pain or heart failure. Treadmill tests showed no signs of heart attack damage. Forty patients were sent home after three days, while the rest stayed seven to 10 days. After six months of followup, none had died, and the number of medical problems in both groups was similar. However, people in the early discharge group were able to return to work about two weeks sooner than the others, and their medical bills were significantly lower _ $12,546 versus $17,868. The researchers estimated that if 15 percent of all heart attack patients were discharged after three days, the annual saving would be at least $280 million. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Gregory D. Curfman, a deputy editor of the journal, cautioned that the study was not large enough to spot complications that might result from reducing hospital stays. "This single study," he wrote, "is not sufficient to justify sweeping changes in current management practices for all patients who may at first appear to have uncomplicated" heart attacks. 
 A 3-year campaign that has succeeded in getting Northeastern University to award an honorary degree to jailed South African nationalist leader Nelson Mandela has raised objections from some faculty and students. Northeastern announced plans to award the degree honoring Mandela on May 13, ending a long effort by students seeking to change a university policy barring honorary degrees for anyone who could not be present at the ceremony. The degree is to be accepted by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is scheduled to be in Boston for a benefit dinner. Law students last September began a campaign of demonstrations and vigils on the campus. They hung a banner from the second floor of the law library that said: "Honor Nelson Mandela." Before he was imprisoned, said third-year law student Sarah Ottinger, "Nelson Mandela was an ... attorney and an activist who worked against apartheid. That's the message we wanted conveyed to students." South Africa's white-minority government says it will free Mandela only if he renounces the use of violence by forces seeking political power for blacks in the country. Some faculty members and students, including many blacks, have criticized the administration's plan for the event, saying no effort was made to include them. "I don't even know what office is sponsoring it," said Keith Motley, dean and director of the African-American Institute, a student group. "We got a memo from the administration saying they need six ushers, but that's it. "You'd think at least we'd be clued in to what's going on." "This started out as something noble, something we've tried to have done for three years," said Ottinger. "We are very, very sorry it happened this way. It wasn't meant to turn out like this." The trustees decided in January that Mandela should get the honorary degree. Students set up a committee to contact Mandela's family to get their approval. University spokesman Paul Jones said letters were sent to Mandela's wife, Winnie, and his two daughters: Zenani, a student at Boston University, and Makaziwe, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. However, Northeastern still has not received approval from the Mandela family, The Boston Globe reported. 
 A Soviet newspaper has painted a highly sympathetic portrait of Andrei D. Sakharov and Yelena Bonner, countering past attacks on the dissident couple once branded as traitors by the state-run media. But the account in Moscow News only indirectly mentioned the nearly seven years Sakharov spent in forced internal exile for criticizing the Soviet drive into Afghanistan, indicating that topic is still too sensitive. In its latest issue, the weekly devoted its entire back page to describing the home life of Sakharov, 66, the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and said the words most often heard in his seventh-floor Moscow apartment are "help me." Sakharov's apartment on a major thoroughfare has been a mecca for Soviets seeking his aid since he and his wife were allowed to return from exile in the closed city of Gorky in December 1986. Since then, Sakharov, who was one of the creators of his nation's hydrogen bomb, has vocally supported Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's reform campaign, but has called for the liberation of all political prisoners and more improvements in the field of human rights. Past Soviet reports, published before Gorbachev became Soviet leader, accused Bonner of marrying Sakharov for his money and said the couple lived in "oriental luxury" amid "scandals between spouses." Moscow News depicted the couple as living peacefully and frugally, eating cabbage, beet soup, potatoes, and other simple fare, and marveled that Sakharov, a member of the prestigious Academy of Sciences, always does the dishes himself. While Sakharov was in exile in the closed city of Gorky, the author of a book that accused him of leading a luxurious and scandal-ridden existence came to ask for an interview, Moscow News said. "Sakharov put a copy of his book in front of him and proposed that he write an apology for all the lies that were published," the paper said. It reported that when the unidentified author refused, Sakharov said, "It's too bad that duels are abolished in our times," and slapped him. Sakharov has been quoted numerous times by Soviet media since his return from exile, but the article in Moscow News was the longest devoted to him so far. But most of the newspaper's circulation is among foreign tourists and readers abroad, so relatively few Soviets would see the Sakharov article. As well as appearing in Russian, Moscow News also prints editions in English, French and other languages. 
 Soviet media once branded Andrei D. Sakharov a traitor, but a Moscow weekly has now provided a sympathetic portrait of the human rights activist and his wife. This week's issue of the newspaper Moscow News said that Sakharov long ago understood the need for change in the Soviet Union. The article makes a clear attempt to refute some of the past charges leveled at Sakharov and his wife, fellow dissident Yelena Bonner, by Soviet officials and the state-controlled media. Moscow News also pointedly notes that the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner has praised Mikhail S. Gorbachev's campaign for social and economic reform. The 66-year-old Sakharov and his wife lead a frugal existence in their seventh-floor Moscow apartment, eating cabbage, beet soup, potatoes and other simple fare, and Sakharov insists on washing the dishes afterward himself, the paper said. It said their two-room home was always filled with people seeking Sakharov's aid, and that the words most often heard there are: "Help me." But Moscow News asked: "Can he really do everything?" Although the full-page article was the longest on Sakharov to date in the Soviet press, it made only indirect reference to the nearly seven years he spent in exile after criticizing the Kremlin's intervention in Afghanistan. Sakharov, a brilliant physicist, was allowed to return to Moscow in December 1986 from his forced residence in the closed city of Gorky, where he was banished without trial in January 1980. "In effect, sometimes Sakharov bitterly jokes that he'd like to return to Gorky for a few months to be able to work alone on scientific work," Moscow News said. "Of course, concerning Gorky, that's a bitter joke." Since his return to Moscow, Sakharov has been a vocal supporter of Gorbachev's program for nationwide reforms that includes the policy of "glasnost," or greater openness on selected topics. "He simply believes that something helped change the thoughts of the majority into state policy," Moscow News said."He calls perestroika (restructuring) an enormous event for our country and for the entire world." However, Sakharov has insisted on speedier progress in improving the Soviet record on human rights, and during a Jan. 15 meeting in the Kremlin, he handed Gorbachev a list of 200 people he said were imprisoned for their views. Moscow News noted that in 1975, in a tract titled "Knowledge and the World," Sakharov set forth his views on Soviet affairs. Those writings have not been published in the Soviet Union. "Now we can definitely see parallels between what he said then, and those ideas that we are putting forward today," Moscow News said. Sakharov called for a ban on nuclear testing long before the Kremlin. The human rights activist, one of the most prominent members of the dissident movement that reached its peak in the 1970s, sought openness in Soviet society years before "glasnost" became Communist Party policy. Much of the Moscow News article seemed designed to undo harm caused to the Sakharovs by previous press campaigns against them. It said one Soviet book accused the Sakharovs of living in "oriental luxury" and engaging in "scandals between spouses." Moscow News said Sakharov was stubborn, unassuming, an undisputed member of his country's intelligentsia and a man with his own views on how to deal conscientiously with world affairs and the demands of this life. His strong convictions even extend to his insistence that he do the dishes after meals, wrote the reporter who visited Sakharov at his apartment. "What is that, Andrei Dmitrievich, your hobby?" asked Moscow News correspondent Gennady Zhavoronkov. "Not all guests are able to wash the dishes conscientiously," Sakharov replied. 
 Greek divers have plunged 162 feet beneath the Aegean Sea and back into history, finding a treasure-laden Turkish warship sunk by Greek revolutionaries in 1822. The remains of the wooden sailing ship were found near the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean at a point where historical accounts place the sinking of the Ottoman ship, according to Peter Nicolaides, a diver and salvage expert. The Bourloti Seimaz _ or "Explosives Invincible" _ was set afire and sunk by Greek Admiral Constantine Kanaris in revenge for Turkish killing and looting on Chios. Thousands of islanders died in the Turkish raids, which shocked other nations and swung Western European countries behind the Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire. Greece won independence in 1830. The French painter Eugene Delacroix produced a famous picture, "The Massacre of Chios," based on the raids. "It's an incredible discovery, straight out of the history book we used to read in school about the War of Independence," Nicolaides said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. Nicolaides, who heard about the wreck while teaching an underwater archaeology course to local divers last winter, started querying fishermen about where their nets snagged on seabed obstacles. He pinpointed the wreck on May 3, he said. "When I dived, I found ships' timbers sticking out of the muddy seabed and dozens of objects _ Islamic cooking pots, cannon balls, a candlestick, even a chalice from a Greek Orthodox church," he said. "The ship was obviously crammed with loot from Chios. I think there may be gold and silver items as well," he said. "I also saw what I recognized as human bones," he added. He said the wreckage indicated the vessel was at least 100 feet in length. According to historians, more than 1,000 people _ including 400 Greek captives _ were aboard the ship when Kanaris staged his attack in the early hours of June 7, 1822. The Greek admiral sailed from the nearby island of Psara, towing a boat stuffed with explosives. Its pointed bow was rammed into the mouth of a cannon on the Bourloti Seimaz and a fuse lit. The Ottoman commander, Admiral Kara Ali, was killed in the blast that split the ship. Kanaris and his crew of Greeks escaped. "This is a very significant, very emotive find, coming from this particular period of history," said George Papathanassopoulos, the Culture Ministry's adviser on marine archaeology. Papathanassopoulos said the 162-foot water depth at the site will make investigation difficult since underwater archaeology rarely is attempted at depths over 113 feet, but he said, "This is a ship that must be explored." Nicolaides said he hoped it would be possible to tap American and Turkish expertise to excavate the wreck as an international project. American experts from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A & M University, working in cooperation with Turkish divers, have pioneered underwater excavation off the Turkish Aegean coast. Greek marine archaeologists focus on locating and surveying historic wrecks scattered around the Aegean and rarely carry out excavations. 
 Beverly Sills, Lauren Bacall, Betty Comden and Phyllis Newman are among performers who will sing, act and make guest appearances at a birthday bash in August for conductor Leonard Bernstein. The Leonard Bernstein Gala Birthday Performance is a benefit concert scheduled for the composer's 70th birthday, Aug. 25, to raise money for the Tanglewood Music Center, where Bernstein got his conducting start. Sills will be host. Performances will include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus under the direction of some of the many conductors whose careers have been guided by Bernstein. Bacall and soprano Barbara Hendricks will perform a movement from Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, "Kaddish." Violin soloist Midori will play two movements from his "Serenade." The concert will celebrate Bernstein's accomplishments in popular music with excerpts from "West Side Story," "On the Town" and others. Dame Gwyneth Jones and Frederica von Stade will be among those performing highlights from "Fidelio," "Tristan und Isolde" and other works to honor Bernstein's landmark opera recordings. Tickets start at $20 for a spot on the lawn and run up to $5,000 for benefactors, who get a seat in the open-air auditorium. 
 President Corazon Aquino has agreed to allow Ferdinand Marcos to return to the Philippines so that the government can try him on charges of stealing billions of dollars, newspapers said Saturday. The Manila Bulletin and The Manila Chronicle quoted Mrs. Aquino's press secretary, Teodoro Benigno, as saying that Mrs. Aquino made the assurance to two Swiss lawyers before she visited Switzerland earlier this month. The reports did not say when criminal charges against Marcos, Aquino's ousted predecessor, will be filed or when Mrs. Aquino will allow him to return. Mrs. Aquino has refused to allow Marcos into the Philippines, citing security reasons. Marcos lives in exile in Hawaii. Mrs. Aquino's government has said it will file criminal charges against Marcos, whom it has accused of stealing up to $10 billion in government funds. But the government has not done so because of Mrs. Aquino's refusal to let Marcos enter the country. Philippine law does not allow trial in absentia. Swiss lawyers are helping the Philippine government trace money that Marcos and his family allegedly placed in Swiss bank accounts. Marcos has been living in Hawaii since he was toppled by the civilian-military revolt that swept Mrs. Aquino to power in February 1986. The Swiss government has frozen the assets of Marcos and his associates and has not released information on them to the Philippine government because of legal challenges posed by Marcos' lawyers and Swiss banks. The unidentified Swiss lawyers said the information will not be turned over "unless and until there is an assurance that formal charges will be filed against him," Benigno was quoted as saying. Swiss law allows the lifting of banking secrecy laws only in case of criminal prosecution. Mrs. Aquino has said she would allow Marcos to return now only if he and his family swore allegiance to her government and returned the money he allegedly stole during his 20-year rule. She said later she would abide by any court decision if Marcos' lawyers in the Philippines raised the matter of his return to the courts. Benigno was quoted as saying that Mrs. Aquino "has to accept the possibility of Marcos returning home." 
 The crippling drought hitting North America is expected to reduce world grain stocks to levels that may cause food shortages in many poor countries, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported today. The agency projects world cereal production in 1988 to total 1.785 billion tons, only two million tons more than last year's level, which was already below the expected production. If the drought in the United States ended now, grain production would fall close to the low levels of 1983, when a drought and farmers' participation in a government crop reduction program decreased output, the agency reported. As a result, world grain stocks are projected to fall below 310 million tons, or 17 percent of the level the agency considers necessary to safeguard world food security, the report said. If crop conditions in the United States and Canada continue to deteriorate, the ratio could drop even further. "Such a development would have serious implications for the food security, particularly of many low-income, food-deficit countries," the report said. The high grain prices resulting from a lower supply would hit poor, food-importing countries the hardest, the U.N. agency warned. It said the rising prices could also reduce food aid from developed countries. The most severely hit crops are coarse grains _ mostly maize, barley and oats, the report said. The agency projected good harvests in other parts of the world. In Asia the yearly monsoon rains started on time, and production in Europe and the Soviet is expected to be larger than last year. Grain production in South America should be slightly lower this year than last. In the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa, however, locusts flourishing in unexpectedly heavy rains have damaged this year's harvest. Potential crop losses from the pests could hit 1 million tons, FAO said. 
 The drought may force the government to ease crop acreage controls next year to help the United States rebuild its grain inventories, Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng said Monday. But the United States "will continue to be a major player" in world agriculture and in 1989 "should be able to bounce back" from this year's drought losses, he said. Lyng's remarks were prepared for delivery at a meeting of farm magazine, extension, advertising, co-op and broadcast editors. A larger portion of the United States suffered from some degree of drought stress in May and June than at any point since records began in 1895, he said. Moreover, on July 2, about 35 percent of the contiguous United States was in the "severe to extreme" drought category, he said. In 1934, more than 60 percent was so rated, and in August 1954 more than 50 percent was in that category. "Because of the large early season area now experiencing drought in the U.S., 1988 appears to have the potential to approach or exceed the drought-affected areas of the 1930s and 1950s," Lyng said. Even with the severe drought, there will be an adequate supply of food grains and livestock feed grains so that the United States "will be able to take care of our domestic needs and our export demand," he said. Lyng said total consumption of 1988 crops will probably be somewhat less than previously estimated because prices are much higher. "But it is important to note that we will have no shortages, that we will still be able to accommodate the needs of our overseas buyers," he said. 
 Kentucky's governor has criticized the federal government for being too slow in dealing with the drought, and Iowa's governor warns that farmers in his state still face potential disaster despite up to five inches of rain over the weekend. Crews began installing pumps on barges Monday to haul fresh water to southern Louisiana towns plagued by rising salt levels in the lower Mississippi River. Meanwhile, House Speaker Jim Wright said in Washington he hopes that a relief package with disaster payments of up to $100,000 for drought-stricken farmers will win committee approval and be ready for floor action in Congress this week. The drought may force the government to ease crop acreage controls next year to help the United States rebuild its grain inventories, says Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng. But the United States will continue to be a major player in world agriculture and in 1989 should be able to bounce back from this year's drought losses, he said Monday. A larger portion of the United States suffered from some degree of drought stress in May and June than at any point since records began in 1895, Lyng said. Grain and soybean futures have dropped to their lowest levels in more than five weeks as weekend rains in the Midwest prompted a third straight day of plummeting prices on the Chicago Board of Trade. July soybeans fell 66 cents a bushel Monday to $8.58, the lowest price for that contract since June 3. Corn for July delivery dropped 20{ cents to $2.89 a bushel, the lowest level since June 15. Wheat and oat futures also closed lower. Crude oil futures prices have hit their lowest closing level since late 1986, hurt by a selloff that traders blame on too much supply and renewed skepticism about OPEC's ability to restrain production. Monday's decline erased gains made last week that had been based on fears of supply disruptions caused by the oil platform explosion in the North Sea. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, an important barometer of price trends, the August-delivery price for West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $14.78 per barrel, down from $15.46 late Friday. It was the lowest closing price for the near-month crude contract since a $14.71 close on Nov. 3, 1986. Savings institution depositors withdrew more money from their accounts than they deposited in May for the first time in seven months, while losses continued to erode the ailing industry's capital, the government reports. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board said Monday net withdrawals at the nation's 3,102 federally insured S&Ls totaled $941 million in May. But the decline came after seven consecutive months of net deposit gains totaling $28 billion. Stock prices crept higher Monday in quiet trading. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 5.16 points to 2,111.31. The dollar limbed to recent highs against several major currencies. Gold prices fell sharply. Bond prices rose modestly in quiet trading following a week of steady decline. Grain and soybean futures plunged, while wheat and oat futures also declined. 
 Heavy rain deluged some drought-hit areas as Congress began working on a package of relief for America's farmers, and farmers in Kentucky today greeted the arrival of the first shipment of hay airlifted free from Oregon. "Everything looks so good with a bit of rain over the past 24 hours," farmer Herman Krone said Tuesday at his 2,800-acre farm in southern Illinois, which President Reagan plans to visit Thursday during a tour of the drought-stricken area. However, Krone said, almost one-third of his 1,200 acres of corn already have been lost. Marth Wilkinson, wife of Kentucky Gov. Wallace Wilkinson and business manager of the family's farm, was at Louisville's Standiford Field today for the arrival of the first hay shipment from Portland, Ore. United Parcel Service plans to ship free of charge 20 to 30 tons of hay from Portland to Louisville each day for the next two weeks. The Agriculture Department, meanwhile, issued a report predicting severe damage to the harvest from the drought. It estimated, for example, that corn output this year would shrivel to 5.2 billion bushels, down from 7.06 billion last year. The dry weather is "the largest drought that our nation has ever experienced," Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng told legislators. "I think history will show that it's truly more mammoth than any of us has ever experienced." Extremely heavy rain fell Tuesday in sections of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. In Texas, more than 6{ inches fell in 75 minutes in Mesquite, washing a pickup truck and several cars into a creek and leaving some homes 8 inches deep in water. Water was up to the tops of cars in Garland and street flooding was reported in Heath. Nearly 6 inches fell in DeQueen, Ark. Showers and thunderstorms were widespread over the Middle Atlantic States, the Tennessee Valley and the Gulf Coast states. Thunderstorms boomed today over the Dakotas and Minnesota. In Washington, the House and Senate Agriculture committees began working on wide-ranging legislation that would provide payments of up to $100,000 each to farmers whose crops have been wiped out by the dry spell. House Agriculture Committee Chairman E. "Kika" de la Garza, D-Texas, called for final action on the measure by mid-August. The drought has dried up pastures, forcing livestock farmers to go far afield for hay. The hay that arrived in Kentuky today will be stored at a fairgrounds, and distributed next week by lottery to farmers, who will pay for the hay, officials said. "It seems like everyone in the state wants this hay," state Department of Agriculture spokesman Roger Nesbitt said Tuesday. The delay has angered some farmers, such as Bernetta Smith, who expects to run out of hay for her 147 beef cows in one to two days. "I don't see any sense in storing it because people need this hay. I don't understand it," she said. At least 50 truckloads of hay gathered from the Carolinas and Virginia are being shipped to Ohio on Thursday in a drive organized by the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Despite the recent rain, communities with dried-up water supplies continue to restrict water use. Until the drought ends, the 650 residents of Vintondale, Pa., about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, will have to do without running water from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, Mayor Michael Palovich said Tuesday. Palovich said he was trying to arrange for an emergency supply to be trucked in. The drought has had a silver lining for anglers in the Reno, Nevada, area. The state Board of Wildlife Commissioners removed the limit on catches at Rye Patch and Lahontan reservoirs because the reservoirs are expected to be dry by the end of summer, leaving fish high and dry. 
 Here is a state-by-state summary of drought developments Wednesday: The Alabama National Guard is still hauling up to 25,000 gallons of water a day to 10 communities across the state despite recent rains. At the height of the drought last month, the Guard was hauling water to 12 locations. The Guard's water-hauling program has been in continuous operation since last July in west-central Alabama because of a low water table. In an effort to help Georgia farmers locate hay, the state Department of Agriculture announced it will start compiling a list of sources. Commissioner Tommy Irvin urged those with a surplus for sale to contact the department. He said information will be compiled and updated regularly. State Treasurer Jerry Cosentino announced a program to provide drought-stricken farmers with access to commercial loans with below-market interest rates. The treasurer's office will commit $50 million to banks at a lower-than-normal interest yield and in turn those banks will offer farmers loans with rates as low as 10 percent. "I know what the farmers first need is rain but that is out of our hands right now," Cosentino said. "The next best thing they can get ... would be additional funds to carry them over until next year." A group of Indiana farmers sued a New Jersey insurance company, saying the company acted in bad faith when it reneged on $2.5 million in drought insurance. The lawsuit seeks an "undeterminable" amount of damages from Pio-Gard Agency of Ohio Inc. and Federal Insurance Co., a subsidiary of the Chubb Group Insurance Cos. of Warren, N.J. Forecasters say Iowa's weather is returning to the hot, dry drought pattern which settled over the state for much of June. The first emergency shipment of Oregon hay to help drought-stricken Kentucky farmers arrived, but logistical problems forced agriculture officials to delay its distribution until next week. "It's a nightmare trying to find a fair way to do this," said Roger Nesbitt, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Nesbitt said Wednesday's 20-ton shipment, flown free from Portland, Ore., by United Parcel Service, will be sold to farmers on Monday. Heavy rain fell on some of the driest areas of central and east-central Minnesota, but it was "way, way below what we should have, as far as precipitation goes," a National Weather Service hydrologist said. "We need ... a widespread distribution over a long period of time, say maybe 10 inches of rainfall to get us back to what we normally should be," Gary McDevitt said. It was the heaviest rainfall for the east-central part of the state since April 26, when the area got about a half-inch of rain. Weather experts say Mississippi could see above normal rainfall in the coming week. Rainfall during the week ending Wednesday averaged 1 inch in some areas, with some extreme northern counties receiving greater amounts. But the weather service said all Mississippi farm communities still had only 30 percent to 50 percent of normal moisture. Road builders in the Kansas City area say the effects of dry weather in the Midwest this year are not all bad. Engineers say several highway projects in the area will be open to traffic at least a month earlier than expected because of fewer interruptions caused by rain and wet weather. __ As many as 20 fires, sparked by lightning from thunderstorms, have blackened about 1,500 acres in the Custer National Forest. The fires are being fought by from 150 to 200 firefighters. A lightning-caused fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area of northwest Montana was being allowed to burn naturally, officials said. State Agriculture Director Roy Frederick said Nebraska farmers probably will have better crops than are expected nationwide and may benefit from higher prices. Nebraska's outlook for the corn crop is rosier than national predictions because 75 percent of the corn comes from irrigated acres and Nebraska has received more rain than some other states, he said. Gov. George Sinner has asked federal officials to declare all 53 North Dakota counties disaster areas because of the drought. Sinner says the drought has wiped out small grain crops and is beginning to take a toll on row crops. The State Agricultural Statistics Service said North Dakota farmers will abandon 31 percent of their spring wheat this year and harvest the smallest crop in 19 years because of the drought. That compares to a normal abandonment of about 5 percent. Abandonment has not been so high in the state since the 1930s. Lt. Gov. Paul Leonard, who heads a state drought task force, said he would not advocate statewide mandatory water restrictions but said local governments should have the authority to impose restrictions where necessary. In central Ohio, farmers awaited what will be the largest haylift of the season _ 50 truckloads of hay from the South scheduled to arrive Thursday night in Columbus. Thunderstorms hit Brown County with heavy rain and hail that damaged drought-stricken crops. Rain was heavy north and east of Aberdeen and spotty elsewhere. Stanley and Thelma Dennert, who live three miles west of Houghton, reported 3.75 inches of rain within an hour. "It was hard with a little bit of hail. It really came down in sheets," said Mrs. Dennert. Authorities said no tornado sightings were confirmed, but about a dozen funnel clouds were reported. The drought-plagued Mississippi River measured seventh-tenths of a foot higher than expected at Memphis because of rainfall throughout West Tennessee. The Mississippi was still 21 feet lower than normal for this time of year, however, and the Coast Guard said the slight rise had no effect on commercial traffic on the river. The drought has dried up summer jobs at the Stokley USA cannery in Merrill. During most summers, the plant provides three months' employment for about 300 workers on three shifts, but this year there are only 225 seasonal employees on two shifts, said Vern Warren, plant manager. "It's been on and off so far. The drought conditions have made it a little difficult for us," Warren said. 
 Weather forecasters today were offering drought-stricken farmers little prospect of relief in separate outlooks for the next 30 days and three months. A new climate assessment of the ongoing drought said "many areas now experiencing extreme drought have less than a 4 percent chance of recovering from the drought within 3 months." The disappointing forecast came as President Reagan headed to the Midwest to inspect drought-plagued farms. On Tuesday the Agriculture Department reported sharp declines in the outlook for several crops. That was followed Wednesday by a 30-day forecast from the National Weather Service saying that drought-stricken areas from the Dakotas east to New York and from the Canadian border to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee are likely to continue to be short of rain. That area, which includes the major grain-growing states where crops already are suffering, is given a 55 percent chance of less than normal rainfall. And some states in the center of the area, stretching from West Virginia to Nebraska and from Wisconsin to Missouri, may be even drier. They are given a 60 percent chance of being short of precipitation. A slice of southern California, including Los Angeles, is the driest area in the forecast, with a 70 percent chance of having below normal rainfall. The rest of coastal California also will be dry, the forecast said. The outlook also says there's a 55 percent chance of hotter than normal temperatures through the U.S. heartland from New England to Idaho and from the Canadian border to Oklahoma. Within that area, the chances of high temperatures are above 65 percent in Wyoming, while central Midwestern states have a 60 percent chance of above average temperatures. Wetter than normal weather is predicted for west and south Texas, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Normal precipitation is forecast for the Atlantic and Gulf coast states, along with the Northwest and northern Mountain States. The Weather Service said normal temperatures are expected for the Atlantic states from Virginia south, and for the Gulf Coast states. West Texas and New Mexico may be cooler than normal, but the far West is expected to see its normal quota of summer heat. The separate drought impact assessment, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Office, points out that predicting an end to the drought is a complex thing, since dry spells have no normal lifetime. The low 4 percent probability of an end within 3 months is based simply on a statistical analysis of past droughts, the agency said. The report noted that as of the end of June, 29 percent of the continental United States was experiencing severe or extreme drought, with parts of 35 states affected. That puts the current drought on the same level as the one in 1911, but still less severe than the droughts of 1936, 1931, 1956 and 1934. 
 Weather experts discussed the drought Thursday and its possible causes and effects, and said they hoped to produce a consensus on how much longer it will last. All of the speakers at the 1988 Drought Symposium called for more research and study. "There's an enormous number of possibilities that one could chase. The next business of the scientist is to eliminate the possibilities of ... and extend the range of analysis and look for cause and effect," said David Rodenhuis, director of the federal Climate Analysis Center in Washington. The symposium attended by 13 state and national experts was sponsored by The Weather Channel, an Atlanta-based cable network, which broadcast the meeting live. John Hope, the network's hurricane specialist and a former forecaster with the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., said the drought in the Southeast might be lessened or ended in the next few months by a heavier than normal hurricane season. Hope said current weather conditions point to more tropical storms, more of which should become hurricanes, in this hurricane season. He stressed that a hurricane's effect on drought is variable, depending on the intensity and speed of the storm. Nevertheless, he said, some Southeastern states get as much as 25 pecent of their rainfall in some months from hurricanes. Georgia state climatologist Gayther Plummer told the symposium he thought the position of the planet Jupiter had something to do with drought in the Southeast. However, Rodenhuis said he was skeptical about Plummer's thesis. "It's very necessary to be cautious and analytical about the issue," he said. 
 Public interest in the Earth's troubled climate may be washed away with the heavy rains that are needed to end the current U.S. drought, weather experts warned during a drought symposium here. "Society tends to flit from hysteria to hysteria," said Pat Michaels, Virginia's state climatologist and moderator of the symposium. He said the 1988 drought, although not as dry as a 1986 drought in many places, has drawn much attention because some of the affected areas include large media centers. "I'm worried ... that when the next drought happens, we are going to have to rediscover the climate problem," said Michaels, president of the Association of State Climatologists. Experts said Thursday that the greenhouse effect _ the warming of the Earth's atmosphere _ has brought needed attention to changes in the global climate, even though it is not directly related to the drought. Many of the 13 climatologists and meterologists at the symposium agreed that the Earth's temperature is warming, but they debated whether it is a short- or long-term phenomenon and its impact on Earth. However, Alan Hecht, director of the National Climate Program in Washington, D.C., said the uncertainty means policymakers should begin to deal with the possible effects, especially undertaking policies that "make sense in their own right." Mankind must reduce reliance on fossil fuels, he said, by becoming more energy efficient, replanting forests and investigating alternative energy supplies. Scientists have warned in recent years that Earth's atmosphere is gaining in carbon dioxide and other gases, which trap heat and cause the overall temperature to rise. Besides fossil fuels, the depletion of forests in South America has been blamed for the increase of carbon dioxide and methane. Some have warned that higher temperature will change the character of many countries, for example drying out the U.S. Midwest or melting polar ice caps. The symposium was sponsored by The Weather Channel, an Atlanta-based cable network, which broadcast the meeting live. Earlier Thursday, the climatologists were told the movement of planets and the moon and sunspots may help lead to drought in the Southeast. "There is some evidence that as Jupiter goes around the sun at its fastest point, there are drought conditions in the Southeast in the months of April and October," Georgia state climatologist Gayther Plummer said. However, David Rodenhuis, director of the federal Climate Analysis Center in Washington, said he was skeptical of Plummer's thesis. "There's an enormous number of possibilities that one could chase," Rodenhuis said. "The next business of the scientist is to ... extend the range of analysis and look for cause and effect." 
 Here is a state-by-state summary of the latest drought developments: Recent rain in central and south Alabama haven't helped cities' water supplies enough to lift surcharges and limits on outdoor watering. Northern Alabama has missed most of the rain and the region's top crop, cotton, is in a critical situation, said John Trotman, state director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. Georgia's carpet industry may be forced to reduce production and lay off workers if the drought continues for an extended period, industry officials said. "It is something you don't like to think about, but if you don't have water, you can't run your mills," said John A. Shaheen, vice chairman of World Carpets Inc. in Dalton. The drought has inflicted serious damage to wildlife along the Illinois River, even though the water level has remained near normal. Wayne Herndon, a biologist with the state Department of Conservation, said the drought, now nearly midway through its second summer, has damaged the river's backwater lakes, virtually eliminating a year's supply of the river's gamefish. The mercury hit 100 degrees Friday at O'Hare International Airport, bettering the previous high for the day of 99 and establishing a second record by giving the city its fifth 100-degree or better temperature of the summer. Chicago sweltered through four 100-degree days in 1934, 1947 and 1953. Thunderstorms brought rain, lightning and 70 mph winds to northern Indiana Friday night, causing widespread power outages in the city of Fort Wayne and apparently causing a toy factory to collapse. No injuries were reported. The Indiana Board of Health issued a heat warning as temperatures soared above 100 and humidity levels boosted the heat index to more than 110 degrees. The National Weather Service said the conditions likely would continue through the weekend. National Guardsmen stood by with 400 gallons of drinking water for about 50 homes in Elk Horn while officials tried to find more water to get the town through the drought. The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng would visit Iowa as part of a 10-state tour of drought areas. Severe thunderstorms spawning tornadoes and strong winds rolled across central Kansas Friday night. A tornado touched down near Clay Center, destroying an unoccupied mobile home and damaging barns and hog sheds. High winds also damaged trees and power lines. Agriculture Commissioner Ward "Butch" Burnette returned from Oregon, saying he had prospects for perhaps 10,000 tons of hay, badly needed by cattle producers. One railroad, CSX Transportation Corp., offered to bring the hay free of charge from Chicago if the Union Pacific or Burlington Northern lines could get it to Chicago. Thirty tons of Oregon hay arrived by jet in Louisville, courtesy of United Parcel Service. That shipment, like several others, was earmarked for distribution Monday. Severe thunderstorms accompanied by high winds and hail moved over much of Michigan on Friday, downing trees and causing power outages. Concern over the effects of the drought on the timber industry outweighed relief brought by the showers. "You have to take more precautions, and you can't use certain machinery with exhaust systems that send sparks that might set a fire," said Matt Repar, who has been logging for 28 years. The U.S. Forest Service has banned all machinery with internal combustion engines from the Upper Peninsula's Hiawatha National Forest after noon. John McGregor of the state Department of Natural Resources has said that if the drought keeps up, the state may ban commercial logging. A brief thunderstorm brought little relief following record heat that helped kill 3,000 young turkeys near Princeton and prompted health warnings. Friday's high of 102 degrees in the Twin Cities topped the previous record for the date, 101 degrees i 1931. With the "heat index" _ the summertime equivalent of the wind-chill factor _ forecasters said 102 degrees felt like 114. "This is the kind of situation that is really bad for the sick and elderly, and especially the elderly," said Greg Spoden, assistant state climatologist. Gov. John Ashcroft issued his second statewide heat alert of the summer, urging private and public organizations to aid those suffering from the sizzling temperatures. "Unless we act now to gear up public and private efforts to care for those without shelter from the stifling heat, the potential for human loss over the weekend is staggering," Ashcroft said. More than 700 firefighters battled a lightning-caused blaze that combined with other fires and spread to 14,800 acres in the Custer National Forest of southeast Montana. Bulldozers, helicopters and bombers dropping fire retardant fought the blaze in the tinder-dry forest on the South Dakota border The Army Corps of Engineers has further reduced the flow of water through Orwell Dam on the Otter Tail River near Fergus Falls, Minn., a main feeder of the Red River, which runs along the Minnesota-North Dakota border. The reduction could affect Fargo's supply of water, according to Ron Hendrickson, city water plant superintendent. Gov. Richard Celeste signed an executive order banning open burning because of extraordinary dry conditions. In Columbus, farmers began loading up their shares of more than 40,000 bales of hay delivered this week from three Southern states. Farmers in the southwestern corner of the state postponed cloud-seeding because there were no clouds. Representatives from Japanese flour mills visited with wheat producers. Ben Handcock, executive director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission, said the Japanese would buy wheat, but probably not from this year's crop because of the drought. "They heard about the drought the same as everybody else did and they think we're out of wheat. The fact of the matter is that we have a lot of good quality wheat left from last year and previous years," Handcock said. Farmers say the drought is causing a shortage of feed, grass and water, leading them to sell more livestock. At the Tennessee-Kentucky Livestock Inc. auction barn in Guthrie, Ky., livestock sales have doubled, said an owner of the barn, Dorris Bryant. Gov. Tommy G. Thompson signed a drought relief bill Friday making $35 million in emergency loans available to Wisconsin farmers. Legislators said it could help up to 5,000 farmers avoid losing their farms. 
 Actresses Lauren Bacall, Betty Comden and Phyllis Newman are among performers in the birthday bash being thrown in August for conductor Leonard Bernstein at the music center where he got his start. The Tanglewood Music Center also is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Music Shed this summer with a special concert by the resident Boston Symphony Orchestra featuring the same music, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, that inaugurated the building in 1938. The Bernstein weekend alone, with tickets as high as $5,000 each, may bring in more than $1 million for the festival's endowment fund, according to Caroline Smedvig of the symphony. "Because Tanglewood is so special for him and, conversely, he's so special to us, the combination will produce what we hope will be a unique event," she said. The Leonard Bernstein Gala Birthday Performance is a four-day affair beginning on the composer's 70th birthday, Aug. 25, to raise money for the music center. Beverly Sills, who announced last month that she will step down as general director of the New York City Opera, will be the host of the event. Bacall and soprano Barbara Hendricks will perform a movement from Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, "Kaddish." Violin soloist Midori will play two movements from his "Serenade." Dame Gwyneth Jones and Frederica von Stade will be among those performing highlights from "Fidelio" and other works to honor Bernstein's landmark opera recordings. The concert will also celebrate Bernstein's accomplishments in popular music with excerpts from such works as "West Side Story" and "On the Town." The orchestra opened the nine-week season with the special July 1 concert marking the first half-century of the Music Shed. The season of classical music will be expanded with performances by such popular rock, jazz and folk artists as The Beach Boys, George Benson and Leo Kottke. But the highlight of the new season is the celebration of Bernstein's birthday. The BSO is even billing the birthday party as "one of the music world's great occasions" and is negotiating the television rights in the United States and Europe. Among the conductor's friends who have been invited to the bash are pop star Michael Jackson and British Princess Diana, although Tanglewood officials say the have not yet received an answer from the celebrities. Bernstein was a member of the original Tanglewood Music Center class of 1940, where he became a protege of Tanglewood founder Serge Koussevitzky. When Koussevitzky retired in 1949, he tried to have the young Bernstein named as his successor, but the BSO's trustees chose Charles Munch because they considered Bernstein too young and tainted by popular music. He later wrote the score for the musical "West Side Story" and returned every summer to conduct and teach. Conductors Seiji Ozawa, John Williams, John Mauceri and Michael Tillson Thomas will share the poduim featuring some of his works on the night of his birth. The following night, Ozawa and special guests will appear in a Music Shed concert for a performance intended to show Bernstein's influence on other musicians. Aug. 27 will be given over to a performance of Bernstein's "Mass" by a 250-member troupe from the Indiana University school of music. The four-day celebration concludes with Bernstein conducting the annual Serge and Ola Koussevitzky Memorial Concert, including a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, on Aug. 28. All proceeds go to the music center's endowment fund, and to a fund Bernstein established for aspiring young conductors. Ticket prices start at $20 for a space on the lawn and go up to $5,000 for front row seats for benefactors. Other highlights of the new season include several major debuts, including that of Soviet painist Vladimir Feltsman, who arrived in the United States last August after an an eight-year battle to emigrate; a return visit by the Israel Philharmonic; and a recital by Irish flutist James Galway. This summer is the second in a four-year jubilee of the festival's 50th anniversary. Events climax in 1990 with observances marking the 50th year of the music center, the festival's school. 
 Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Friday proposed tougher legislation to punish Soviets who seek to kindle ethnic unrest, saying "nationalist passions" benefit opponents of his reforms. The Soviet leader told a meeting of the Communist Party leadership that inter-ethnic relations were worsening in some regions of the country, due in part to "active resistance put up to perestroika by corrupt groups." "Perestroika," or restructuring, is Gorbachev's program for widespread economic and social change. State-run media also indicated Friday that a crackdown had begun on people in Armenia who continue to agitate for annexation of a mostly Armenian enclave in the neighboring republic of Azerbaijan. The six-month conflict between the two republics over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh district has led to mass rallies, strikes and ethnic violence since February. The Supreme Soviet Presidium, the government's top executive body, intervened July 18. It rejected any change in Nagorno-Karabakh's status but called for measures to develop the region's economy and culture. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is one of the most rancorous domestic disputes faced by Gorbachev since he became Communist Party chief in March 1985. He indicated Friday he wants to defuse tensions between ethnic groups, but also to punish those who transform the tensions into a political crisis. Gorbachev spoke before a plenary meeting of the Central Committee, the party's policy-making body. A summary of his remarks was distributed by the official Tass news agency. Gorbachev outlined the reasons for a "current aggravation" of tensions between ethnic groups in some regions of the Soviet Union, Tass said. Among the causes, Gorbachev listed "a lack of concern for many years for the specific requirements of peoples and ethnic groups, inadequate control by the masses over the activities of executive personnel, and active resistance put up to perestroika by corrupt groups." Tass said that after Gorbachev noted that "nationalist passions benefit all anti-perestroika forces," he suggested increasing accountability in Soviet laws for kindling ethnic strife. Tass did not give details of Gorbachev's suggestion. At the July 18 Presidium meeting, the Soviet leader accused corrupt conservatives who oppose his reforms of hiding behind the Nagorno-Karabakh annexation drive. Gorbachev said the grounds for tougher legislation come directly from Article 36 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, which says the law can punish "any advocacy of racial or national exclusiveness, hostility or contempt." Tass said Gorbachev made other proposals on how to resolve ethnic tensions, including an increase in power for each of the country's 15 republics, a law on "equal use" of the more than 100 languages spoken in the Soviet Union and some economic autonomy for the country's republics and regions. In particular, the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, have demanded more say in their own economic and government affairs. The labor newspaper Trud said 44 people in Yerevan, Armenia's capital, will face criminal charges following an incident in which activists seeking the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh attached slogans to their cars and drove around the city. The paper did not give the date or size of the mobile demonstration, but said 155 drivers have had their licenses revoked and 310 were fined. In its July 18th decision, the Presidium also ordered local law enforcement agencies to ensure order was restored in the Caucasus Mountain region. Tass reported Friday that the situation was stabilizing in Armenia, but said that at the "urging of instigators," some strikes and protests were continuing. 
 Overcrowding and safety violations caused an aging ferry to capsize in the Ganges River, killing as many as 400 people, a government report said. The ferry accident was said to be India's worst ever. Strong currents hampered efforts today to pull the two-decker from the rising monsoon-swollen river. Hundreds of relatives stood by watching. A senior government official, discussing the confidential report on condition of anonymity, said authorities believed at least 300 people on the lower deck died when the ferry overturned Saturday morning. About 200 people were on the upper deck, he said. Authorities believe about 100 people swam to safety or were rescued by villagers. Only about a dozen bodies have been found, and most of the missing were believed trapped inside the 35-year-old ferry. "It was badly overcrowded. The situation was made more dangerous by wheat bags loaded on the ferry. Many lives could have been saved if the ferry had carried water safety equipment such as life jackets," said the senior official. Survivors said they protested when 150 bags of wheat were loaded onto the ferry. The steam-powered vessel started wavering soon after it left the banks and capsized about 100 yards from the shore. Navy divers attempted to reach the submerged boat today, but the river was too muddy and its current too swift, said H.S. Pathak, head of the eight-member diving team. "We are trying our best, but because of the current, we are not able to go near the launch," Pathak said. "The water is too muddy. We can't see anything, so we just have to feel by our hands." Authorities said the water was still rising and the submerged boat was sinking in the river bed. The water depth was estimated at 12 to 30 feet. Katihar Commissioner Madan Mohan Singh estimated the boat was resting in about six feet of sand. "We are planning to break the ferry. Only then will we be able to get the bodies out," Singh said. Katihar District Police Chief P.S. Natarajah said chances of finding any survivors were "very, very dim." He said the death toll may never be known because some bodies probably were carried downstream 30 to 60 miles by the surging water. The ferry was designed to carry about 160 people, but was was always overcrowded, he said. Jetty workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 535 tickets were sold for the trip. Katihar Police Inspector N. Kumar said about 2,000 relatives and residents were waiting along the rain-swollen river for the bodies to be recovered. "Police are trying to control the crowds and console them," he said. Family members railed against authorities as numerous officials arrived to review recovery efforts. "Give back our family members. We don't want (government) ministers," they shouted. One survivor, Chadrasekhar D. Tiwary, said he was standing on the ferry's upper deck when it started wavering. "As soon as the ferry tilted, I knew we were going down. I saw three women crying for help. They probably drowned," the 50-year-old farmer said. Ram Prasad Yadaw's wife and four other family members vanished in the accident. "The women and children suffered the worst. They had to sit on the lower deck," he said. "I am sure my wife is dead." It was the worst boat accident ever in India, according to the United News of India. At least 150 people died on July 5, 1970, when a boat capsized in Krishna River in eastern India. The Navy divers came from New Delhi, the Indian capital about 650 miles west of Katihar. Mangan Chand, a police officer, said only one body surfaced near the ferry Sunday. Ten to 12 bodies were found Saturday, according to Bihar state officials. Chand said his father and uncle were aboard the ferry. He said he was waiting for the bodies so he could cremate them according to Hindu rites. The boat trip is normally used by Hindu pilgrims going across the river to worship at a shrine of Lord Shiva in Deoghar town. Lord Shiva is the destroyer diety in the Hindu trinity. Boat accidents are common during the annual monsoon rains when major rivers overflow their banks. 
 John Lennon spent much of a three-year span tucked away in his room, sleeping or sitting in a lotus position with his head enveloped in tobacco or marijuana smoke, according to a biography of the slain Beatle. An excerpt from the book, "The Lives of John Lennon" by journalist and biographer Albert Goldman, appearing in the Aug. 15 issue of People magazine, discloses a sometimes unflattering portrait of both Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono. The book is scheduled to be published later this month by William Morrow & Co. Inc. Between 1976 and 1979, Goldman writes, Lennon "could not be more remote." Apart from a few hours in the morning and evening, including time spent with his son, Sean, "Lennon is back here in his room, alone and silent." The author says the idolized Beatle spent most of his adult life as an anorexic, starving himself to what he perceived as perfection. The onset of the eating disorder can be traced to 1965, Goldman writes, "when some fool described him in print as the `fat Beatle.' " "That phrase struck such a blow to his fragile ego that the wound has never healed." Lennon rarely wore clothing, other than a pair of backless slippers, and avoided touching anyone, according to the book. The 719-page biography also details Yoko Ono's $5,000-a-week heroin habit in 1979. She reportedly snorted the drug. According to the book, Lennon also took heroin and consumed a great deal of LSD. "I must have taken a thousand trips," the book quotes Lennon as saying. "I just ate it all the time like candy." Goldman spent more than six years researching the book, interviewing 1,200 friends, relatives and associates of Lennon, who was murdered eight years ago in New York. 
 More than 4,000 workers at a coal mine in the southern city of Jastrzebie went on strike today to demand legalization of Solidarity and higher wages, a spokeswoman said. The strike in Jastrzebie, about 275 miles southwest of Warsaw, comes on the eighth anniversary of the founding of the outlawed trade federation. Solidarity spokeswoman Katarzyna Ketrzynska said workers on the overnight shift at the Manifest Lipcowy mine stayed outside the mine shaft all night and were joined by workers arriving for the morning shift. She said security officers blocked miners on the afternoon shift, which starts at 2 p.m., from entering the grounds to join the striking miners. The strike began at noon today, according to Katrzynska. She said the miners are demanding the legalization of Solidarity and reinstatement of workers fired for union activities. The workers are also calling for higher wages and better working conditions, and are requesting two lawyers and two economists to assist them in the negotiations. Manifest Lipcowy is the second mine in the industrial region of Silesia to experience unrest. Workers at the Rudna copper mine near the city of Wroclaw staged a protest rally Monday to demand improved safety conditions and the return of Solidarity activists to work. Three members of Solidarity were barred Saturday from working. Solidarity was crushed in 1981, when the government imposed martial law, and was banned nearly a year later by parliament. On Aug. 16, 1980, workers at factories around the northern port of Gdansk joined striking shipyard workers to form Solidarity, the first and only independent trade federation in the Soviet bloc. 
 Dan Quayle's sister believes the Indiana senator won't let his candidacy for vice president hurt the family life he and his wife, Marilyn, enjoy. "I don't think it will be tough on the family," said Martha Saddler, Quayle's sister, who lives in Huntington, Ind. "Since he's been in politics, we all kind of shake our heads at his hectic schedule and wonder how he does it. But he does it and loves it." The Quayle family and friends were celebrating Tuesday afternoon after George Bush announced he wants the 41-year-old Indiana senator to be the Republican nominee for vice president. Those who have known the Quayles for years said the senator and his wife have remained relatively unchanged by their years in public life. Dan and Marilyn Quayle met as law students in Indianapolis, married while they were still in school and remain close to many of their friends from that period. "One of the greatest things about him is the job of being a senator has not changed him a bit," said Indianapolis attorney William R. Neale, treasurer of Quayle's 1986 re-election campaign. "He's the same nice guy he was in law school." Neale, who grew up with Marilyn Tucker Quayle in Indianapolis, introduced Dan Quayle to his future wife at a student gathering at the Indiana University law school in the early 1970s. Dan Quayle, who grew up in Huntington, graduated from DePauw University, a small liberal arts college in Greencastle, Ind., before going to work in the Indiana attorney general's office in 1970. Daniel F. Evans, also a law school classmate of Dan Quayle, said he doesn't expect Quayle's national candidacy to change him. "I think his strength is he'll remember who his friends are even after this," said Evans, who was chairman of Quayle's 1986 campaign. Friends said the Quayles are devoted to their three children and prefer quiet nights at home to nights out on the town in Washington. "His family looks like the family both parties are trying to appeal to," said Mitch Daniels, former political chief in the White House and now president of the Hudson Institute. "It's a beautiful family. I think they'll be a real asset." The couple, who married in 1972, have a 14-year-old son, Tucker; a 12-year-old son, Benjamin; and a 9-year-old daughter, Corinne. When they campaign in Indiana, the Quayles often tour in two groups _ the boys riding in parades with Marilyn Quayle and Corinne and her father visiting county fairs. "The kids are nonchalant, normal kids," said Mrs. Saddler. "They take it in stride and play." In an interview with Indiana reporters Monday, the Quayles said they had worried during the vice presidential speculation about the family's loss of privacy during a national campaign. "The total lack of privacy is going to be the biggest minus," said Mrs. Quayle, 39. Quayle said he had questioned each of his children about whether he should accept the vice presidential spot if Bush offered it. Tucker was fascinated by the idea, Quayle said. Benjamin was ambiguous but he thought Secret Service agents might be able to help him on tests at school, Mrs. Quayle said. Corinne didn't like the prospect of having her father spend more time away from home, Quayle said. "She told me, `Daddy, I really hope George Bush picks Bob Dole,"' said Quayle. 
 Port workers in Szczecin and southwestern coal miners today declared sympathy strikes with miners demanding the legalization of Solidarity, opposition activists said. In support of an estimated 3,000 colleagues striking for a second day at the July Manifesto mine in Jastrzebie, workers at the nearby Morcinek mine refused today to take up their tools and launched their own occupation strike. Port workers occupied the docks in Szezecin, about 250 miles northwest of Warsaw, and set up a 15-member strike committee, said Jan Kostecki, a leader of the independent union federation. A local prosecutor immediately declared the strike illegal, Solidarity officials said. Andrzej Andrzejczak, head of the Morcinek mine strike committee, said: "We support all of the demands of the July Manifesto mine workers." The mine is about 12 miles south of July Manifesto, where strikers were demanding legalization of the outlawed independent labor federation, pay raises and reinstatement of workers fired for trade union activites. Police ringing July Manifesto, one of Poland's largest coal mines, today turned away area residents who tried to bring food to the strikers. Andrzejczak said the Morcinek miners broke off talks with management when they were refused access to loudspeakers and contact with the strikers at July Manifesto. He said miners erected a large Polish flag atop the administration building and were blocking the complex's main entrance. It was not immediately known how many workers were involved. The second strike came as Solidarity strike committee members met with management and representatives of the Industry Ministry at the July Manifesto colliery. Adam Kowalczyk, a regional Solidarity leader, said more workers were joining colleagues inside by leaping over police barricades. The strike committee issued a communique today saying the workers would not end their stoppage until their demands are met and charged: "The mine management is trying to end the strike by hunger." Police surrounded the mine after workers put down their tools on Tuesday. Witnesses said about 600 officers were outside and about 3,000 strikers inside. The strikes mark the eighth anniversary of the birth of the Solidarity, which Communist authorities crushed in a 1981 military crackdown. Miners leaving July Manifesto this morning said wage demands were based on hardships caused by Poland's worsening economy, including 60 percent inflation. "The economy is in ruins," one told The Associated Press. "Miners cannot live on their salaries because of recent price hikes." Miners earn nearly twice the average national salary and receive extra benefits because of the vital role they play in the economy. Poland is the world's fourth largest exporter of coal, and coal is the nation's leading export. July Manifesto, a hotbed of labor activism during the strike wave that spawned Solidarity, is one of five coal mines in the region. Solidarity adviser Jacek Kuron said there were no reports of violence and police made no attempt to move into the mine, which is 280 miles southwest of Warsaw and employs about 9,000 workers. The state-run PAP news agency, in a dispatch late Tuesday, said the strike was illegal. PAP said the miners were warned that "they may be held responsible for their illegal actions." The July Manifesto mine is in Silesia, Poland's industrial heartland. Eight years ago, a wave of mine strikes in Silesia ended with the signing at July Manifesto of the last of three agreements that established Solidarity across the nation. The pact also won work-free weekends. Solidarity leaders said the strike began Tuesday when overnight shift workers refused to take up their tools. They were joined by workers arriving for the morning shift, Kuron said. Kuron said mine management then locked out members of the afternoon shift to prevent them from joining the strike. Solidarity spokesmen said workers at the nearby Borynia mine staged a brief sympathy rally but went back to work Tuesday afternoon. Also Tuesday, security officials briefly detained 10 Solidarity activists at the Rudna copper mine near the city of Wroclaw in lower Silesia. That mine has also been the scene of unrest in recent months, where workers have demanded improved safety conditions. Five strikes in Poland from April 25 to May 10, and brief stoppages or strike threats in 25 more work places, constituted the worst labor unrest in the country since the 1981 martial-law crackdown. One of the stoppages, at a steel mill near Krakow, was broken up by security forces. The workers in those strikes also demanded the legalization of Solidarity, along with wage increases. 
 Dan Quayle has not yet been nominated for vice president and already Republicans are comparing him to Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy. Sen. John Warner of Virginia, who served with Quayle on a Senate subcommittee, told an audience that whenever he heard the Indiana senator speak, "I'd say, `there stands the next Thomas Jefferson."' And, added Warner, "he does have the same fire in his belly as our great forefather Thomas Jefferson of Virginia." Former president Gerald Ford made the comparison with Kennedy, a Democrat. "In 1960, the American people voted for John F. Kennedy for president and he was the relatively same age as Dan Quayle," said Ford. "John Kennedy had been in the House and Senate 14 years before he was elected president and Dan Quayle's had 12 years." What Quayle thinks of those references isn't known. But he doesn't like it when people say he looks like movie idol Robert Redford. Whether, indeed, he looks like Redford seems to be in the eye of the beholder. In the parlance of politics, it's an issue. They are both male. They are both blond. The so-called resemblance became a point of contention in the 1980 Senate race and Redford took umbrage. The actor, who once played the role of a presidential office seeker in "The Candidate" sent Quayle a telegram telling him to stop the look-alike references in his congressional campaign literature. Quayle said the news media had made the comparison, not he, and after he was elected sent Redford an autographed picture of himself. And this week, he told reporters he considered the so-called Redford look "a stigma." He wasn't asked how he felt about being painted as another Jefferson or Kennedy. Meanwhile, fellow senators were trying to publicize Quayle who, at 41, hasn't had a chance to become a legend. He is a Republican vice presidential candidate who is not, as Spiro Agnew once said of himself, a household word. To help him get known, eight fellow senators Wednesday took turns telling reporters how much they liked him. "We know him well," said Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. "He's attractive because of his looks, he's attractive because of his enthusiasm," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "I think Dan Quayle, although he's 41 years of age, he's going to send a message to the American people that the Republican Party respects young people who achieve," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Oh, yes, he's also rich, but the senators said that should not hold him back. "Let's not start this business of who's wealthy," Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y. 
 A drug used to treat patients complaining of chest pain also could help prevent recurring heart attacks in four out of five heart patients, according to a study published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Surprisingly, however, the study found that the drug, diltiazem, increases the chance of a subsequent heart attack in patients whose hearts pump abnormally, experts said. Even so, the results may trigger an increase in the use of the drug, which is now primarily used to treat angina, doctors said. The drug was tested in 38 hospitals in the United States and Canada on patients who had recently suffered a heart attack, said Dr. Arthur Moss, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Rochester and the principal investigator for the study. The results suggest the drug may be quite effective in decreasing the likelihood of a second heart attack in the majority of patients, Moss said. But the study also surprisingly suggests that patients who suffer pulmonary congestion should not be given diltiazem because the drug increases the chance of a subsequent heart attack. "We now know when to prescribe this drug and when not to," Moss said. "That's what this study was all about." Diltiazem is a calcium entry blocker, the newest class of drugs to be introduced in the fight against heart disease. Nitrates and beta blockers are the other types commonly prescribed by doctors. The study involved 2,466 heart attack patients, who were given either 240 milligrams of diltiazem a day or a placebo. Patients were recruited from 1983 to 1986 and followed for 12 to 52 months. Overall, the drug only decreased additional heart attacks 11 percent, which was not statistically significant, Moss said. But in patients who had normal or near-normal heart pump function _ 1,909 patients or 80 percent of the total group _ diltiazem decreased the chance of another heart attack by 25 percent, Moss said. In patients whose hearts had pumping problems, the drug not only didn't help, but it increased the chance of a heart attack by 25 percent. Dr. John Schroeder, a cardiologist and professor at Stanford University, said he was surprised that the drug increased the chance of heart attack in any group and that overall results were not higher. "But the bottom line is that this is the first study to show that diltiazem can be effective," Schroeder said. "I think it will mean that more patients will be routinely put on this drug on a long-term basis." Dr. George Beller, a cardiologist and professor at the University of Virginia, said he was also somewhat surprised about the increase in heart attacks in the group suffering pulmonary congestion. "This is one of the first reports that seems to identify that," he said. Diltiazem and two other calcium entry blockers were introduced in the past decade, Beller said, and research into how effective they are in various applications is in its early stages. Nitrates have been used for more than 50 years, and beta blockers were developed in the 1960s. 
 Here is a transcript of the speech by Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas nominating Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana for vice president at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, four of my congressional colleagues and I are here for the purpose of nominating the next vice president of the United States. We are here to nominate one of the bright young lights in the Republican Party, a man I am proud to say is my colleague, the junior senator from Indiana, Dan Quayle. You know, senators get a lot of mail. Party leaders more than most. And almost every one of these letters asks for help with some problem. Well, three years ago, I received a handwritten plea from a 6-year-old girl who after several days of long, long Senate sessions had a very special problem. She wrote, and I quote: "I have my second-grade play tonight. Please make sure my daddy can come home and watch me." I knew Corinne Quayle was from a political family because she invited me to come along, too. Corinne and her brothers, Tucker and Benjamin, and their mother, Marilyn, share Dan Quayle with the people of Indiana and the United States Senate. Dan Quayle is a dedicated public servant and a devoted family man. And whenever I needed him, whenever I needed him, Dan was there _ ready and willing to make the tough choices, to cast the tough votes, to transform President Reagan's vision of America into the law of the land. Whether it was the budget or defense, tax reform or the INF treaty, Dan Quayle was there, a forceful advocate, and a staunch supporter of the Reagan revolution. And now he is ready to carry that revolution forward. And believe me he is ready, and just let the Democrats try to use experience as a measuring stick in this campaign. Just let them try. Now, I don't mean to suggest their presidential candidate lacks experience. He's got plenty of experience, plenty of experience _ experience in raising taxes again and again, experience in vetoing the pledge of allegiance in public schools, experience in increasing spending year after year after year in Massachusetts. And I just don't believe the American people want that kind of experience in the White House. It sounds like a Dukak-eyed idea to me. But Dan Quayle's got experience, too. He's already spent 12 years as a congressman and a senator, tackling the vital national and international issues that affect the lives of all Americans and the future of our country. That is 12 more years of national experience than Michael Dukakis _ and he is running for president. As I said at the start, Dan Quayle is a man I know and trust. I am honored to nominate him for vice president, Mr. Chairman. And for the purpose of debate only, I yield the balance of my time to the outstanding, distinguished senior from Indiana, my good friend, Sen. Dick Lugar. 
 Dan Quayle's vice presidential nomination was supposed to be a triumph for the precocious young Indiana senator, but the dream faded overnight. Bush's surprise choice for his running mate was supposed to ignite a campaign that has seemed at times to suffer from lack of inspiration, but he quickly encountered questions over his military record and suggestions he could best serve the Republicans by withdrawing from the ticket. Though he found himself in danger of fizzling Thursday, Quayle managed to stir the convention hall with his upbeat speech about family, generations and the rosy future he foresaw under a Bush administration. "Let's go on to victory!" Quayle exhorted, as the crowd erupted in cheers. The 41-year-old nominee delivered the speech with calm self-assurance, sticking close to his text and avoiding his penchant for extemporaneous remarks _ perhaps another result of the unanticipated controversy. Bush, who followed his running mate to the podium, said he was "proud to have Dan Quayle at my side." The two will stress the unity of their ticket as they campaign together this weekend through Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. But beyond the optimistic words was an unsettling undercurrent that threatened Quayle's candidacy just as it was launched. Retired Maj. Gen. Wendell C. Phillippi _ who worked for Quayle's grandfather, Eugene C. Pulliam, as managing editor of The Indianapolis News _ said he contacted the National Guard on behalf of Quayle when the young man applied in 1969 and "recommended him very highly," the News reported. Quayle, a hardliner on defense matters, has said he sought guard duty so he could attend law school. A Bush aide said the matter was discussed with the Indiana senator during the process that led to his selection for the Bush ticket, and Quayle had denied that he used influence to gain admittance to the Guard. Bush aides said no thought had been given to dropping Quayle from the ticket, as some Republicans suggested. Quayle was tense and refused to answer reporters' questions about the topic during a brief walk-through at the convention hall. It was a daunting change for the senator, whose youthful vigor, rapid political rise, striking good looks and wealth have been compared to those of John F. Kennedy. Quayle alluded to the National Guard issue during his speech, saying he was proud of the six years he served. He also addressed his relative anonymity: "Many this week have asked, `Who is Dan Quayle?' The people of Indiana know me and now the nation will." Those who addressed the convention on his behalf also pulled out their ammunition. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who placed Quayle's name in nomination, stressed his campaign skills and sought to deflect concerns that he lacked experience for the job. "He's already spent 12 years as a congressman and senator. ... That is 12 more years of national experience than Michael Dukakis, and he is running for president," Dole said. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, one of those who seconded the nomination, said Quayle would "bring vim, vigor and vitality" to the party and would bring "sparks and voltage to this campaign." Whether Quayle can overcome his difficult start on the national ticket remains to be seen. Others, notably Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, found they could not. But Quayle, ever upbeat, was determined Thursday night not to be daunted by the prospect. "Miracles do happen," he told his party. 
 A strong earthquake hit the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal and parts of eastern India on Sunday morning, triggering landslides and collapsing buildings. First reports said 100 people may have died. Nepal's Department of Geology said the earthquake struck at 4:54 a.m. (7:09 p.m. EDT Saturday) and measured 5.7 on the Richter scale. The department said the quake was centered near Udayapur, a town near the Indian-Nepalese border and 100 miles southeast of Katmandu, Nepal's capital. Officials said the temblor lasted about 40 seconds. In New Delhi, the Seismologoical Observatory said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. The state-run Radio Nepal said at least 27 people were killed in the towns of Bhaktapur and Dharan when they were buried by collapsing houses. Press Trust of India news agency said that in addition to 100 feared dead in India and Nepal, 1,000 people were injured in the Indian states of Bihar, Sikkim and West Bengal. A Nepalese journalist in Dharan, 130 miles southeast of Katmandu, said by telephone that "20 people have already died. A large number of injured were being taken to local hospitals and a rescue operation is under way. Men of the Royal Nepal Army, police, social workers and other local inhabitants are taking part in the rescue operation." The journalist added that "90 percent of the house of Vijapur area of Dharan collapsed." Police reported seven people died in Bhaktapur, an ancient town seven miles east of Katmandu, while 20 others suffered injuries. The quake was also felt in the Indian capital of New Delhi and Calcutta, but there was no report of any casualties. One hard-hit Indian city was Dharbhanga in Bihar state, where 14 children were believed killed when their school hostel collapsed. Dharbhanga, with a population of 200,000, is 550 miles east of New Delhi. Several homes in the residential areas of Dharbhanga have collapsed, killing an unspecified number of people. The Richter scale is a gauge of energy released by an earthquake, as measured by ground motion recorded on a seismograph. Every increase of one number means the ground motion is 10 times greater. A quake of magnitude 5 can cause considerable damage in populated areas while one measuring 6 can cause severe damage. 
 A strong earthquake triggered landslides and destroyed houses in the mountainous India-Nepal border region early Sunday, killing at least 237 people and injuring more than 1,500, officials and news reports said. Seismologists said it was the deadliest earthquake to strike the Himalayan region since 1950. More than 100 people died when the quake rumbled through the eastern Indian state of Bihar, officials said. In Nepal, authorities said at least 137 people were dead. Officials in both countries predicted the death toll would rise after they received reports from remote areas which were hit harder. "The tolls have come in only from urban areas," said V.K. Sharma, deputy secretary in the Bihar government. The temblor also jolted parts of northern Bangladesh and the capital of Dhaka, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Witnesses said windows and doors rattled, buildings cracked and people roused from their sleep ran screaming from their homes as objects tumbled from shelves and tables. "My bed rattled, then it began swinging," said R.N. Rudra, a resident of Patna, the Bihar capital. "My dogs began barking and I rushed out of the house." At least 1,000 people were injured when the quake triggered landslides and house collapses in Bihar and the surrounding states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa, all heavily populated, largely agricultural areas. The quake also was felt in Sikkim and Tripura, located in the Himalayan foothills, the Press Trust of India news agency said. In Nepal, a Foreign Ministry official, Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, said more than 500 people were injured and thousands of houses collapsed from the quake's impact. "Most of them (were) buried alive under collapsed houses," said Indra Shrestha, a social worker involved in the rescue operation in Dharan Bazar, a township of about 100,000 people about 18 miles from the Indian border. Shrestha said rescue operations were being hampered by the monsoon rains, which hit the subcontinent in late June and usually last through September. Both countries were rushing emergency medical teams to the area. The Red Cross of Nepal issued urgent appeals for blood donations. In India's Bihar state, communications with Darbhanga, which appeared to be the worst-hit area, were disrupted. The Press Trust of India said a school hostel in the town collapsed, killing at least 17 children. It said more bodies were feared buried under the debris. The quake damaged most of the houses in Darbhanga, the news agency said, quoting P.K. Patnaik, the top civil administrator in the district. Deaths were also reported in the neighboring towns of Munger, Keoti and Narpatnagar. The tremor also was felt in the eastern city of Calcutta, Press Trust of India said. There were no immediate reports of casualties but residents were quoted as saying windows of several homes vibrated and doors rattled. The Seismological Observatory in New Delhi said the quake hit at 4:40 a.m. (7:10 p.m. EDT Saturday) and was centered 40 to 50 miles northeast of the town of Darbhanga in Bihar state, along the India-Nepal border. Observatory Director H.N. Srivastava said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. Srivastava said the quake lasted about one minute and aftershocks continued for about an hour. Seismologists warned aftershocks could continue for days. The U.S. Geological Survey said its initial seismograph readings placed the center of the quake 100 miles southeast of Katmandu, the capital of Nepal. Geological Survey monitors in Golden, Colo., recorded the earthquake at a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale. The Richter scale gauges the energy released by an earthquake as measured by the ground motion recorded on a seismograph. A quake of magnitude 6 is capable of causing severe damage. Earthquakes are common in the Himalayan region. On Aug. 6 a quake of magnitude 7.3 shook the states of Assam, Manipur, West Bengal and Bihar. Four people were killed. India's worst earthquake was in 1950, when at least 30,000 people were killed in Assam state. 
 Rescuers searched through debris today for victims of an earthquake that ravaged one-third of this country's territory and parts of India, killing at least 650 people and injuring thousands. The death toll was expected to climb from Sunday's pre-dawn quake on the India-Nepal border, which triggered landslides and floods and was the mountainous region's deadliest in 38 years. Officials in both countries said they had yet to receive reports from the remote Himalayan areas hardest hit by the temblor, which knocked out power and communications and was said to injure at least 3,000 people. Niranjan Thapa, Nepal's minister of state for home affairs, told a news conference at least 450 were dead and up to 1,000 injured. He said officials expected the numbers to climb. Indian officials reported at least 200 people dead and more than 2,000 injured, most by debris from collapsing buildings. The quake, centered almost on the India-Nepal border, registered 6.5 on the Richter scale. Indian television today showed the devastation in the Indian state of Bihar: crumbled buildings, makeshift morgues lined with rows of bodies wrapped in white shrouds, damaged hospital wards packed with survivors. Medical teams in India carried medicine and other supplies to overcrowded hospitals and the army was deployed to help search for victims. But the monsoons, which hit the subcontinent in late June and usually last through September, hampered relief operations. Nepal's Thapa told a news conference that "the rains have been a great hindrance in carrying out rescue works. Access to some areas of this mountain country is impossible." He said 21 of the kingdom's 75 districts suffered extensive damage. The hardest hit appeared to be Dharan, a sparsely populated border region where Thapa said at least 131 people died. Bir Bahadur Shahi, secretary of the home affairs ministry, flew to eastern Nepal on Sunday. He said 50,000 to 60,000 houses were destroyed in the Dharan district alone. "Ninety percent of the remaining houses are cracked," Shahi said, adding that most of the damage was to modern houses of stone and older houses from mud and bricks. Wooden houses were not affected, he said. Many people were given shelter in schools, guesthouses and public buildings, "but most of the people do not want to leave their homes," Shahi said. He said water supplies were still adequate and there were no reports of disease breaking out. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi flew to Bihar to tour some of the hardest hit areas. The government said it would release a detailed report after he returned to the capital tonight. Prime Minister Marich Man Singh Shrestha of Nepal visited some of the victims at Bir Hospital in his capital, Katmandu. The quake roused people from their sleep in Bihar and nine other Indian states and central and eastern Nepal. It lasted about a minute and aftershocks continued for about an hour. Rail tracks sank into the soggy ground and bridges over rising rivers cracked, paralyzing train service and road travel in many parts of the devastated areas. Parts of northern Bangladesh and the capital, Dhaka, also felt the tremor. There were reports that 50 people were injured, most by jumping from their houses during the quake. Witnesses in Darbhanga, an Indian city of 800,000 about 45 miles south of the epicenter, said the only warnings were hissing sounds, rattling doors and cracking windows. Women began blowing conch shells, following an ancient tradition believed to appease the weather gods. More than 25,000 houses were flattened in Darbhanga, as well as the districts of Munger and Madhubani, Indian officials said. In Madhubani, the Bhootahi Balan River jumped its banks and flooded nearly 50 villages. Officials said at least 45 people died, but it was not known whether the deaths were due to floods or collapsing houses. It was the worst quake to strike the region in 38 years. A temblor rumbled through the Indian state of Assam on the India-China border in August 1950. Official accounts said more than 1,500 people died, but seismologists said their records showed 30,000 were killed. The Richter scale is a gauge of energy released by an earthquake, as measured by ground motion recorded on a seismograph. Every increase of one number means the ground motion is 10 times greater. A quake of magnitude 6 can cause severe damage in populated areas. 
 Rescue workers coped with aftershocks and heavy rain today in an effort to reach remote regions of the Himalayas to help victims of an earthquake whose official death toll neared 700. Rumors predicting another large quake sent thousands of panic-stricken people fleeing from their homes in India and Nepal. Sunday's pre-dawn quake registered 6.5 on the Richter scale and claimed at least 497 lives in Nepal and 200 in India, government officials said. Officials in both countries said they expected the death toll to climb when reports arrived from regions difficult to reach even in good weather. The quake injured at least 2,000 people in India and 1,000 in Nepal, officials said. In Biratnagar, a city near the Indian border 150 miles east of the Nepalese capital Katmandu, residents poured into the streets before dawn today as men ran from houses to house, shouting that a message came from Katmandu that a new quake was expected before dawn. Police in the city of 300,000 people said they received no such message. "I have tried to tell them they are making a mistake, but no one will listen to me," said Dabal Singh, an inspector. Anonymous telephone calls with similar rumors roused hundreds of people in Katmandu, also before dawn. Sunday's quake was felt in the capital, but no deaths or serious damage were reported in the city. In Patna, India, thousands of people huddled in the rain in open courtyards Monday as rumors swept the city that another quake was imminent. Patna is the capital of Bihar state, the worst hit area in India. A quake registering 5.1 on the Richter scale shook eastern Nepal late Monday afternoon, but there were no immediate reports of new casualties or damage. In general, however, the intensity of aftershocks has lessened. "Compared to the ones on Sunday and Monday, they have been declining," Madhav Prasad Pandy, senior seismologist at Nepal's Department of Geology, said in Katmandu. He said most aftershocks had declined to a reading of 1 on the Richter scale. Rain continued in quake-affected areas, hampering access on muddy roads already cracked by the quake. Landslides blocked many roads to devastated areas. Railroad tracks sank into the mud, and the quake also cracked bridges over rivers swollen by the monsoon. In India, the area with the greatest damage and casualties was just south of the border in Bihar, India's poorest state. News reports said 400 people died in Bihar state, double the Indian government's count. Bihar officials said the reports were exaggerated, while opposition politicians in the state accused the government of suppressing information and claimed the death toll was close to 1,500. Tremors flattened more than 25,000 houses in India, officials said, and the Bhoothai Balan River flooded nearly 50 villages in the Madhubani district. Indian army soldiers helped with relief efforts, and the navy and air force were put on alert. Nepalese soldiers, police and volunteers joined forces in the kingdom's remote mountains and valleys. Niranjan Thapa of the Home Minstry reported extensive damage in 21 of Nepal's 75 districts and at least four affected districts reported 50 or more deaths. Officials distributed 88-pound bags of rice to families in this kingdom of 17 million people. Government officials said many offers of assistance had come from abroad, but no decision had been made about whether to accept them. A U.S. Embassy official said the embassy had offered $25,000 in immediate aid but had not received a response. The quake was the worst in the region since a temblor in India's eastern state of Assam killed 1,500 people in 1950, according to official accounts. Seismologists said their records showed a death toll of at least 30,000. The Richter scale measures ground motion as recorded on seismographs and each number represents aa tenflod increaase in intensity. A quake of 6 on the scale is capable of causing severe damage, while one measuring 5 can cause considerable damage. 
 Police bulldozed teetering houses Tuesday to keep people from returning to homes left unsafe by an earthquake that killed at least 731 people in India and Nepal. Officials in both countries expected the death toll to rise as relief workers reached remote towns that have been inaccessible since Sunday's devastating quake. Some roads were flooded by heavy rains that continued Tuesday, while others had 3-foot-deep cracks or were blocked by boulders the size of houses in the Himalayan mountains and valleys. At least 531 people were killed in Nepal, said Tek Bahadur Thapa, additional secretary in the Home Affairs Ministry. Prime Minister Marich Man Singh Shrestha visited Dharan, one of the hardest-hit towns, and surveyed heaps of bricks that were once three-story and five-story houses. "This is the biggest calamity to strike Nepal," Shrestha said as he toured the town. India reported an official death toll of 200, but the figure was disputed by news media and opposition politicians who put the Indian death count at anywhere from 400 to 1,500. In Darbhanga, India on Tuesday, worshipers offered sweets, milk and coconuts to appease the Hindu god of destruction. Women dressed in colorful saris gathered at countryside temples in the quake-ravaged areas of eastern Bihar state to pray and present their offerings to Lord Shiva, the god of destruction in the Hindu trinity. "If God is pleased, nothing will happen," said one woman, who refused to give her name. The earthquake, which struck shortly before daybreak Sunday when most people were still asleep, registered 6.5 on the Richter scale. It was the deadliest quake in the region since 1950 when a temblor in the east Indian state of Assam killed 1,500 by official count and 30,000 by seismologists' accounts. Dharan, 105 miles southeast of Katmandu, sits on a rolling plain at the base of a steep hill. At least 131 bodies have been found in the town of 100,000. Most of the victims died in their houses, which were made of bricks held together by mud that had loosened during the seasonal monsoon rains. Police Inspector G. Adhikari said bulldozers have demolished more than 50 houses deemed too dangerous for habitation. "We will continue to demolish houses until we are satisfied (the ones remaining) are safe to live in," he said. British soldiers from a nearby Gurkha recruiting center pitched in with cranes to aid the demolition. Dharan is in the heart of regional famed for fierce Gurkha fighters who have served in the British army for more than 150 years. Adhikari said local officials had not yet heard from the government on compensation or new housing for people whose homes were demolished. Most of the homeless have moved in with neighbors of found shelter in tents erected on the soggy earth. The hardest hit areas in India were in Bihar state just across the Nepalese border. Rescuers in army helicopters searched for survivors in Bihar's Darbhanga, Madhubani and Mungar districts. Other helicopters ferried medicine, rice, cooking oil, clothes and tents to police trapped in the most remote regions of Bihar, India's poorest state. Heavy rains, overflowing rivers and submerged bridges and roads hampered attempts by 1,000 Indian soldiers to provide assistance. In Nepal, 88-pound bags of rice were being distributed to families affected by the quake, but officials were unable to give any figures. International agencies operating in Nepal were gearing up to contribute supplies or assistance but have not yet heard from the government on what was wanted, according to several foreign relief workers who spoke on condition of anonymity. Shrestha said the mountain kingdom had not sought foreign aid because "we are still assessing the magnitude of the tragedy." Some supplies, medicine and health workers arrived in eastern Nepal on Tuesday. Donors included UNICEF and the government of Japan and Britain. Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries. Two-third of the children under age of 5 suffer from malnutrition and life expectancy is 52, according to UNICEF. A nation of 17 million, Nepal has one doctor for every 22,650 people, compared with 5,000 people per doctor in India and 780 per doctor in the United States. Aftershocks have persisted since Sunday's earthquake, and rumors of an impending new quake sent thousands of people fleeing into the streets in panic before dawn Tuesday in Katmandu and Dharan. The rumors started with anonymous telephone calls and spread by word of mouth. In Dharan, men ran from houses to houses rousing people from their sleep. 
 Police bulldozed unstable brick and mud houses today while those left homeless by an earthquake that killed at least 749 people sought shelter and awaited government aid. Casualty reports continued to trickle in from remote parts of this Himalayan mountain kingdom as relief workers fanned out through the foothills and valleys. Sunday's pre-dawn quake struck near the India-Nepal border. Some roads were flooded by heavy rains that followed the quake. Others had cracks three feet deep or were blocked by boulders the size of houses. At least 549 people were killed in Nepal, said Tek Bahadur Thapa of the Home Affairs Ministry. Dharan was hardest hit. At least 131 bodies were found in the city of 100,000. Indian officials have maintained since Monday that the death toll in their country was 200 or less, but the figure was questioned by opposition politicians, survivors and the local media, including the Times of India, a newspaper that generally supports the government. They put the India death count at anywhere from 400 to 1,500. Indian officials said 200 people were injured in the quake. Nepalese officials listed 752 injured, down from their earlier estimate of 1,000. In Bhaktapur, a city of 50,000 where seven people died in the quake, 63-year-old Nhuchhe Raj Sakya said his five-story brick and mud house had nearly fallen down but that he and his family of 10 were still living in it. "What else can we do?" the goldsmith said. "We have no tent. How can I leave my place?" Prime Minister Marich Man Singh Shrestha visited Dharan on Tuesday and surveyed heaps of bricks that were once three-story and five-story houses. "This is the biggest calamity to strike Nepal," Shrestha said as he toured the town. Dharan, 105 miles southeast of Katmandu, sits on a rolling plain at the base of a steep hill. Most of the victims died in their houses, which were made of bricks held together by mud that had loosened during the seasonal monsoon rains. Police Inspector G. Adhikari said bulldozers have demolished more than 50 houses deemed too dangerous for habitation. "We will continue to demolish houses until we are satisfied (the ones remaining) are safe to live in," he said. Adhikari said local officials had not yet heard from the government on compensation or new housing for people whose homes were demolished. Most of the homeless have moved in with neighbors or found shelter in tents erected on the soggy earth. The earthquake, which struck when most people were still asleep, registered 6.5 on the Richter scale and was the deadliest quake in the region since 1950, when a temblor in the east Indian state of Assam killed 1,500 by official count and 30,000 by seismologists' accounts. Aftershocks have persisted since Sunday's quake, and rumors of an impending new quake sent thousands of people fleeing into the streets in panic before dawn Tuesday in Katmandu and Dharan. The rumors started with anonymous telephone calls and spread by word of mouth. In Dharan, men ran from houses to houses rousing people from their sleep. 
 The death toll from the Himalayan earthquake topped 750 on Wednesday as rescue workers hampered by monsoon rains, aftershocks and washed out roads reached remote areas of Nepal and found more bodies. In eastern India, which also was devastated by the quake, cracks were found in the embankments of six rivers in Bihar state, and officials said floods could pose the next threat to the 10 million people. "It may be the second coming. All the rivers are in full spate, and if the embankments breach, we are in for serious problems," said Puranman Mittal, the relief commissioner in Bihar state, which suffered the most damage in India. Bihar residents ran screaming through the streets on Wednesday when a mild tremor rumbled through the area. No casualties or damage was reported, witnesses and the Seismological Observatory in New Delhi said. Residents in Dharan, the worst-hit area of Nepal, also raced from their homes Wednesday during two aftershocks, officials in Katmandu said. No further damage was reported in the city, where 100 houses collapsed during the quake. Rescue workers demolished 50 homes in Dharan on Wednesday that were severely damaged in the temblor, police inspector G. Adhikari said. "We will continue to demolish houses until we are satisfied (the ones remaining) are to safe to live in," he said. "This is the biggest calamity to strike Nepal," Prime Minister Marich Man Singh Shrestha, said Tuesday after a tour of devastated areas in his nation. At least 758 people died and 950 were injured in both countries Sunday when the earthquake jolted the mountainous India-Nepal border region. It was the deadliest quake to strike the subcontinent since 1950, when, by official count, 1,500 people were killed in the eastern Indian state of Assam. Indian officials said Wednesday that at least 196 died in India in Sunday's disaster. Officials in Nepal said at least 562 people were killed in Nepal, including 31 people whose bodies were found in remote areas on Wednesday. In India's Bihar state, officials said the water had reached dangerous levels and was still rising in six rivers: the Ganges, the Ghagara, the Burigandak, the Bagmati, the Koshi and the Mahananada. To make matters worse, survey teams found cracks in the embankments of the six rivers, which are swollen by monsoon rains that began in late June. Engineers tried to strengthen the weakened embankments with cement, and helicopters made aerial surveys watching for ruptures. As survivors in both countries began rebuilding homes damaged or destroyed by the quake, medicine, food and financial aid began arriving from abroad. Elroy J. Carlson, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Katmandu, said the United State offered $25,000 in aid. In New Delhi, U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean presented the government with a similar amount for Indian victims. Michael Hamilton, an official at the British Embassy in Katmandu, said three medical teams had been sent to Dharan. "The teams are carrying two truckloads of blood and medicine," Hamilton said. The British army also runs a military hospital in Dharan, where at least 100 people were admitted. The government hospital in Dharan treated hundreds of people injured when brick and wood houses collapsed. U.N. agencies and the Red Cross also sent medical teams to Nepal, and the government began distributing 90-pound bags of rice. The relief efforts were hampered in both countries by heavy rains which cut off communications and road links to several of the affected areas. "The earthquake hit a wide area, and it is a big job to reach the remote villages. But we are trying," said Mittal, the relief official in Bihar state. 
 The parents of a Peace Corps worker learned Thursday that their son, a volunteer in Nepal, was safe following an earthquake last weekend that killed at least 750 people in that country and neighboring India. "They called this morning, that's the first we had heard about anything since the quake," said Arthur Giaquinta, whose 24-year-old son, Peter, lives in a village 10 miles north of the hard-hit Dharan Bazar township. Jim Flanigan, a Peace Corps spokesman in Washington, said Peter Giaquinta was "fine as far as we know." In Boston, the brother of Peace Corps volunteer Bettyjean Bouffard, 27, said Thursday she called her relatives to say she was safe. The call, said Dave Bouffard, was the first news the family had had of her safety. "We're ecstatic," he said, adding that his sister had been living with a Nepalese family five miles from the earthquake epicenter. Flanigan said the Peace Corps has been able to track down all but three of the 157 volunteers in Nepal. There are no Peace Corps members in India, he said. The three, he said, are from Michigan, Wisconsin and the Philadelphia area; he declined to release their names. "We have a problem with roads out, monsoon rains," Flanigan said. "In the best of times, reaching some of these volunteers is several days." 
 An earthquake that devastated parts of Nepal and India earlier this week has killed more than 980 people, officials from the two countries said Friday. Mourners paraded through the streets of this medieval town, calling for revenge after a former legislator was beaten to death by political rivals while he was distributing relief supplies to earthquake victims. "Hang the murderers," scores of young men chanted as they marched in front of a jeep bearing the battered body of Karna Hyanju, once a sympathizer of the now-outlawed Communist Party. Witnesses said Hyanju was beaten with umbrellas and sticks late Thursday afternoon, then dragged through the streets for nearly two hours before police intervened. He died Friday at the Bir hospital in Katmandu, 7 miles west of Bhaktapur. Uttam Dhaubanjar, a 28-year-old bank employee and neighbor of the dead man, said Hyanju had been handing out blankets, milk and other food in Bhaktapur when he was accosted by a group of men who accused him of giving relief supplies only to his own supporters. Reports of damage and devastation continued to arrive from remote parts of Nepal on Friday, and the Home Affairs Ministry updated its confirmed death toll to 704. In India, the official count rose to 277. But survivors, the news media and opposition politicians say the toll could be as high as 1,500. Sunday's earthquake registered 6.5 on the Richter scale, which records energy released by a tremor according to ground motion measured by a seismograph. A reading of 6 indicates the possibility of severe damage, while 7 signifies a major quake. Dhaubanjar said he saw about 40 people rounded up by police Thursday night after Hyanju's beating death. He said many belonged to the same Communist faction that Hyanju once supported. "People started beating him with umbrellas," Dhaubanjar said. "There were a lot of scratches on his body, and a lot of blood. It looked like one ear was missing. Then they made a necklace of their shoes (by tying the laces together), put it around his neck and pulled him through the streets." As Hyanju's body was taken through the winding streets of Bhaktapur, a 12th-century town of ancient Hindu temples, thousands of the town's 50,000 people jammed streets, temple steps and the balconies of brick and mud houses. Pashupati Rana, one of several Cabinet ministers who marched in the funeral procession, said several people were arrested in the killing, including the mayor, the deputy mayor and a member of the Rashtriya Panchayat, or non-partisan assembly. Rana, who is minister of local development and legislative, affairs, called Hyanju's death "political murder." Hyanju served in the Panchayat from 1981 until 1986 when he lost the backing of the Communists in Bhaktapur, traditionally a leftist stronghold. The Panchayat, whose members are elected on non-party lines, was created after the late king Mahendra abolished the old Parliament and all political parties in 1960, saying a Western-style parliamentary system was not suited to his mountain kingdom. Dhaubanjar and a group of young men who gathered around him said Hyanju was perceived as a government supporter despite his previous communist leanings. 
 Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle's official resume says he was the Indiana Consumer Protection Division's chief investigator a year before the unit was created, state records show. The law creating the unit passed April 14, 1971, and took effect July 1. Officials said Quayle served as chief investigator from July until mid-September, when he became administrative assistant to then-Gov. Edgar D. Whitcomb. Quayle's Senate biography, which his campaign is using as his official background, says he was chief investigator of the unit in the Attorney General's office from 1970 to 1971. "He was assigned to our section in the spring of 1971," said Robert Smith, the unit's first director and now an attorney in Indianapolis. "He was in fact the chief investigator. He helped get the unit set up. (But) it would not have been before 1971," Smith said Friday in a telephone interview. "We formally began operations July 1." Quayle conceded Friday that the resume entry was "inaccurate" and said his staff had written the document. "If it indicated that, that is inaccurate. I didn't hold that job for two years," Quayle told reporters aboard his campaign plane. Earlier, however, Quayle spokesman David Prosperi called the revelation of the error by The Plain Dealer of Cleveland "a cheap shot." Quayle was hired as an entry-level research assistant by the state Attorney General's office in 1970 after he returned from six months of basic and advanced training for the Indiana National Guard. Quayle, a 1969 graduate of DePauw University, was attending Indiana University Law School at the time. M. Stanton Evans, then an editor with the Indianapolis News, helped arrange his job interview with the state. Evans worked for Eugene C. Pulliam, Quayle's grandfather and publisher of the News. "At no point in any of this did Dan Quayle ask any favors or use any influence," said Evans, now with the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C. "He wouldn't have been hired as a chief investigator. He was hired in an entry-level job and was promoted to a whole bunch of jobs on his merits. It's a nothing story," Evans said. Theodore Sendak, the Attorney General at the time, recently had surgery and is unable to comment, according to his son, Timothy Sendak. Patricia Gifford, a Marion Superior Court judge who was then an assistant attorney general, said Friday that prior to the establishment of the Consumer Protection Division, "all complaints and inquiries were handled by me. The legal assistant assigned to me and utilized as my chief investigator was Dan Quayle." Her statement was released by the Quayle campaign. The Consumer Protection Division was created by the state legislature to resolve complaints over defective products, false claims in ads, faulty speedometer readings and mail-order fraud. In 1980, Quayle referred to himself as a "Vietnam-era veteran" in campaign literature when he was running against three-term incumbent Birch Bayh in a Senate race. Quayle, who enlisted in the Indiana National Guard, dropped the reference after objections by some Vietnam combat veterans. In that same election, which he won, Quayle said he was "on active duty for several periods during his tenure" in the Guard. The statement referred to periods when Quayle was in basic training and 15 days of camp each summer. 
 Aspirin sales jumped 41 percent for a few weeks earlier this year, not because of a rash of headaches. A study of more than 22,000 male doctors had shown that taking a single aspirin every other day could cut heart attack risk in half. The study was one of a series of recent reports showing for the first time that doctors are able not only to treat heart attacks _ but also to prevent them. In the most recent report, doctors found that one aspirin tablet and a single dose of a clot-dissolving drug given within 24 hours can dramatically cut the risk of a second fatal heart attack. Without the treatment, patients had a 13 percent chance of dying from a second heart attack within five weeks, the researchers found. With the treatment, the figure dropped to 8 percent. "The real discovery is that treatment for patients is going to reduce in-hospital mortality substantially," says Richard Peto of Oxford University, one of the study's authors. Heart disease is the nation's leading cause of death, by far. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 762,820 Americans died of heart disease in 1987. To put it another way: Of the 2,127,000 American who died that year, more than one in three died of heart disease. (This does not include those who died of blood-vessel diseases, such as strokes.) The drugs most responsible for the recent success in preventing heart attacks are the new clot-dissolvers and that old standby, aspirin. The usual cause of heart attacks is a blockage of the coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. The blockage arises from the buildup of fats, cholesterol and clotted blood. Clot-dissolvers break up clots, thus restoring blood flow. Aspirin interferes with aspects of the clotting process, helping to prevent clot formation in the first place. The limited sales of the clot-dissolving drugs in the United States show that many doctors are still not using them, despite their proven success. But that is beginning to change. Some doctors predict that in the not-too-distant future these drugs will be judged so safe that they will be administered routinely by paramedics in ambulances before suspected heart attack victims even reach the hospital. "We have to know how to respond quickly, and we have to have the courage to use these drugs in the absence of definitive diagnosis," says Dr. Burton Sobel of Washington University in St. Louis, a pioneer in the testing of the clot-dissolvers. "The most important thing we can do is teach patients in advance about the value of early treatment," he says. While most public attention has focused on this new ability to prevent heart attacks, researchers have also made important progress in speeding the recovery of patients who survive heart attacks. Researchers at the University of Michigan recently determined that some heart attack victims can be released from the hospital as soon as three days after their heart attacks. Most heart attacks victims are kept in the hospital for at least seven to 10 days. The patients given early discharge were able to return to work two weeks sooner than others in the study group. After six months, not one death was recorded in the early-discharge group. The researchers concluded that perhaps 15 percent of heart attacks victims could be safely discharged after three days. In July, Stanford University doctors found that workers who went back to their jobs about seven weeks after their heart attacks did at least as well as workers who went back after a more typical convalescence of about 10 or 11 weeks. All of these advances come at a time when public health experts are increasingly emphasizing the role of good health and good nutrition in lowering heart disease risk. Early next year, the American Heart Association seal of approval will begin appearing on foods that are low in fat and cholesterol and therefore can help reduce heart disease risk. U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in July issued his first report on nutrition, calling on Americans to lower their consumption of fats and to eat more vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry and whole grains. The report has been likened to the first Surgeon Generals report on smoking, issued in 1964, which focused public attention on smoking's hazards. Koop's recommendations largely echo those of the American Heart Association, but they should help carry the message to many more people. Progress in research on heart disease is making clear that the heart attack is no longer a mysterious killer that strikes without warning and cannot be defended against. Much can be done to prevent heart attacks, great improvements are being made in treatments, and recovery is faster than ever before. The use of a clot-dissolver and aspirin could, alone, save 25,000 lives a year in the United States, doctors say. "These results," says Dr. Peter Sleight of Oxford University, "will change medical practice worldwide." 
 Hurricane Gilbert swept toward the Dominican Republic Sunday, and the Civil Defense alerted its heavily populated south coast to prepare for high winds, heavy rains and high seas. The storm was approaching from the southeast with sustained winds of 75 mph gusting to 92 mph. "There is no need for alarm," Civil Defense Director Eugenio Cabral said in a television alert shortly before midnight Saturday. Cabral said residents of the province of Barahona should closely follow Gilbert's movement. An estimated 100,000 people live in the province, including 70,000 in the city of Barahona, about 125 miles west of Santo Domingo. Tropical Storm Gilbert formed in the eastern Caribbean and strengthened into a hurricane Saturday night. The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported its position at 2 a.m. Sunday at latitude 16.1 north, longitude 67.5 west, about 140 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and 200 miles southeast of Santo Domingo. The National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said Gilbert was moving westward at 15 mph with a "broad area of cloudiness and heavy weather" rotating around the center of the storm. The weather service issued a flash flood watch for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands until at least 6 p.m. Sunday. Strong winds associated with the Gilbert brought coastal flooding, strong southeast winds and up to 12 feet feet to Puerto Rico's south coast. There were no reports of casualties. San Juan, on the north coast, had heavy rains and gusts Saturday, but they subsided during the night. On Saturday, Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm and its remnants pushed inland from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Residents returned home, happy to find little damage from 80 mph winds and sheets of rain. Florence, the sixth named storm of the 1988 Atlantic storm season, was the second hurricane. The first, Debby, reached minimal hurricane strength briefly before hitting the Mexican coast last month. 
 Hurricane Gilbert, packing 110 mph winds and torrential rain, moved over this capital city today after skirting Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Telephone communications were affected. "Right now it's actually moving over Jamaica," said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "We've already had reports of 110 mph winds on the eastern tip. "It looks like the eye is going to move lengthwise across that island, and they're going to bear the full brunt of this powerful hurricane," Sheets said. Forecasters say Gilbert was expected to lash Jamaica throughout the day and was on track to later strike the Cayman Islands, a small British dependency northwest of Jamaica. Meanwhile, Havana Radio reported today that 25,000 people were evacuated from Guantanamo Province on Cuba's southeastern coast as strong winds fanning out from Gilbert began brushing the island. All Jamaica-bound flights were canceled at Miami International Airport, while flights from Grand Cayman, the main island of the three-island chain, arrived packed with frightened travelers. "People were running around in the main lobby of our hotel (on Grand Cayman) like chickens with their heads cut off," said one vacationer who was returning home to California through Miami. Hurricane warnings were posted for the Cayman Islands, Cuba and Haiti. Warnings were discontinued for the Dominican Republic. "All interests in the Western Caribbean should continue to monitor the progress of this dangerous hurricane," the service said, adding, "Little change in strength is expected for the next several hours as the hurricane moves westward over Jamaica." The Associated Press' Caribbean headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was unable to get phone calls through to Kingston, where high winds and heavy rain preceding the storm drenched the capital overnight, toppling trees, causing local flooding and littering streets with branches. Most Jamaicans stayed home, boarding up windows in preparation for the hurricane. Some companies broadcast appeals for technicians and electricians to report to work. The weather bureau predicted Gilbert's center, 140 miles southeast of Kingston before dawn, would pass south of Kingston and hit the southern parish of Clarendon. Flash flood warnings were issued for the parishes of Portland on the northeast and St. Mary on the north. The north coast tourist region from Montego Bay on the west and Ocho Rios on the east, far from the southern impact zone and separated by mountains, was expected only to receive heavy rain. Officials urged residents in the higher risk areas along the south coast to seek higher ground. "It's certainly one of the larger systems we've seen in the Caribbean for a long time," said Hal Gerrish, forecaster at the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters at the center said the eye of Gilbert was 140 miles southeast of Kingston at dawn today. Maximum sustained winds were near 110 mph, with tropical-storm force winds extending up to 250 miles to the north and 100 miles to the south. Prime Minister Edward Seaga of Jamaica alerted all government agencies, saying Sunday night: "Hurricane Gilbert appears to be a real threat and everyone should follow the instructions and hurricane precautions issued by the Office of Disaster Preparedness in order to minimize the danger." Forecasters said the hurricane had been gaining strength as it passed over the ocean after it dumped 5 to 10 inches of rain on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. "We should know within about 72 hours whether it's going to be a major threat to the United States," said Martin Nelson, another meteorologist at the center. "It's moving at about 17 mph to the west and normally hurricanes take a northward turn after they pass central Cuba." Cuba's official Prensa Latina news agency said a state of alert was declared at midday in the Cuban provinces of Guantanamo, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Granma. In the report from Havana received in Mexico City, Prensa Latina said civil defense officials were broadcasting bulletins on national radio and television recommending emergency measures and providing information on the storm. Heavy rain and stiff winds downed power lines and caused flooding in the Dominican Republic on Sunday night as the hurricane's center passed just south of the Barahona peninsula, then less than 100 miles from neighboring Haiti. The storm ripped the roofs off houses and flooded coastal areas of southwestern Puerto Rico after reaching hurricane strength off the island's southeast Saturday night. Flights were canceled Sunday in the Dominican Republic, where civil defense director Eugenio Cabral reported some flooding in parts of the capital of Santo Domingo and power outages there and in other southern areas. 
 Hurricane Gilbert slammed into Kingston on Monday with torrential rains and 115 mph winds that ripped roofs off homes and buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines. No serious injuries were immediately reported in the city of 750,000 people, which was hit by the full force of the hurricane around noon. For half an hour, the hurricane lashed the city, tearing branches from trees, blowing down fences and whipping paper through the air. The National Weather Service reported heavy damage to Kingston's airport and aircraft parked on its fields. The first shock let up as the eye of the storm moved across the city. Skies brightened, the winds died down and people waited for an hour before the second blow of the hurricane arrived. All Jamaica-bound flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. Flights from the Cayman Islands, reportedly next in the path of the hurricane, arrived in Miami packed with travelers cutting short their vacations. "People were running around in the main lobby of our hotel (on Grand Cayman Island) like chickens with their heads cut off," said one man. A National Weather Service report said the hurricane was moving west at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. It said Jamaica would receive up to 10 inches of rain that would cause flash floods and mud slides. "Right now it's actually moving over Jamaica," said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "It looks like the eye is going to move lengthwise across that island, and they're going to bear the full brunt of this powerful hurricane," he said. Gilbert reached Jamaica after skirting southern Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Hurricane warnings were issued Monday for the south coast of Cuba east of Camaguey, the Cayman Islands, and Haiti, while warnings were discontinued for the Dominican Republic. High winds and heavy rain preceding the storm drenched Kingston overnight, toppling trees, causing local flooding and littering streets with branches. Most of Jamaica's 2.3 million people stayed home, boarding up windows in preparation for the hurricane. The popular north coast resort area, on the other side of the mountains, was expected to receive heavy rain but not as much damage from the hurricane as the south coast, where officials urged residents to seek higher ground. Havana Radio, meanwhile, reported Monday that 25,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas in Guantanamo Province on the nation's southeastern coast as Gilbert's winds and rain began to brush the island. In Washington, the Navy reported its bases at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, had taken various precautionary steps but appeared to be safe from the brunt of the hurricane. Lt. Ken Ross, a spokesman, said the Navy station at Guantanamo reported that as of 2:30 p.m. EDT, the brunt of the storm appeared to be passing southeastern Cuba. "They have reported maximum winds of 25 knots and gusts up to 50 knots," said Ross. "But there are no reports of injuries or damage." The spokesman said earlier in the day, Guantanamo had moved to "Condition Two," meaning electrical power usage was cut back to only essential uses and "all non-essential personnel sent to their barracks." The storm also skirted Puerto Rico without causing any damage to military facilities, Ross said. Sheets said Gilbert was expected next to sweep over the Cayman Islands, on its westward track, and in two to three days veer northwest into the southern Gulf of Mexico. Residents of the neighboring Caymans, a British dependency to the northwest, were urged to "rush all preparatory actions." The National Weather Service warned that the Caymans could expect high waters and large waves "which may undermine buildings along the beaches." "All interests in the Western Caribbean should continue to monitor the progress of this dangerous hurricane," the service advised. Forecaster Hal Gerrish on Sunday described Gilbert "certainly one of the larger systems we've seen in the Caribbean for a long time." 
 A freighter carrying a cargo of beer sank in the North Sea today off the Dutch coast and all nine crew members were rescued from life rafts, a coast guard spokesman said. The ship sank at about 12:45 p.m. in high winds, some 28 nautical miles north of the island of Ameland. It was not immediately clear what had caused the sinking 29 miles off the Dutch island of Ameland, according to the coast guard spokesman, who was not identified. There were no casualties, he said. The coast guard official, who spoke in a Dutch radio interview, identified the ship involved as the Finnish-registered freighter Ra and said it had been carrying a cargo of beer. He did not give the ship's origin or destination. The nine crew members boarded two life rafts after the sinking in high winds. They were taken ashore by a West German helicopter from the island of Borkum, about 30 miles from the site of the sinking, the official said. A Dutch navy aircraft and two life boats also rushed to the scene. Earlier reports had said that the ship was a passenger ferry, possibly one of the Dutch ships plying the frequent ferry lanes between the coastal islands and the Dutch mainland. Freight shipping in the area is also heavy because of its vicinity to the ports of Delfzijl in the Netherlands and Emden in West Germany. 
 Gilbert, an "extremely dangerous hurricane" and one of the strongest storms in history, roared toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Tuesday with 175 mph winds after battering the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the tiny Cayman Islands. The hurricane killed at least five people Sunday in the Dominican Republic, civil defense officials said. Six people died and 60,000 were left homeless in Jamaica on Monday, officials there said. Prime Minister Edward Seaga said the hurricane swept the full length of Jamaica, "leaving a trail of wreckage behind it." "It will take us some time before we can assess the full damage without any doubt," Seaga said in a statement. "But I have no doubt that this going to be the worst disaster that we have experienced in our modern history." Communications were down with many storm-ravaged areas and the death toll was expected to rise with the arrival of damage and casualty reports. The hurricane, traveling westward across the Caribbean Sea, was upgraded Tuesday to a Category 5, the strongest and deadliest type of hurricane. Such storms have maximum sustained winds greater than 155 mph and can cause catastrophic damage. Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., described Gilbert as "a great hurricane ... in the top 10 percent (historically) as far as intensity, size and destructive potential." Only two Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States _ a 1935 storm that killed 408 people in Florida, and Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969 and killed 256 people. "The people who need to be concerned now are those people over on the Yucatan Peninsula _ Cancun, Cozumel, that whole area," Sheets said. Mexico's news media reported beachfront hotels were evacuated in the Yucatan resorts of Cancun and Cozumel Island. They gave no figures on the numer of evacuees, but said people in Cancun were being sent from the hotel zone into the city center, about 6 miles away. Cozumel is south of Cancun and the reports said hotel guests also were being moved to more secure areas away from the shoreline. Mexican officials expected the storm to hit in the early morning hours Wednesday. At midnight EDT the U.S. National Weather Service said Gilbert was centered near latitude 19.9 north, longitude 84.8 west, or about 150 miles east-southeast of Cozumel. It said Gilbert was moving west-northwest at about 15 mph with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. The center said tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 250 miles to the north and 200 miles to the south of the center. "People in the warned areas should have completed all possible preparations for this extremely dangerous hurricane," it said. The center said Hurricane Gilbert was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure. It said by 8 p.m. EDT it was measured at 26.13 inches, breaking the 26.35 inches recorded for the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. "That's the lowest pressure ever measured in the Western Hemisphere," said forecaster Mark Zimmer. "There is very serious flooding" in the Cayman Islands, Erina Nichols, a tourism official in Miami, said Tuesday after speaking with residents of the islands. "The Run Point (community) is taking a real beating." The storm later knocked out all telephone service to the Cayman Islands, a British dependency of 23,000 people that was expecting 12-foot tides. Warren Chase, an amateur radio operator in Fort Myers, Fla., said he received a report of sailboat with seven people aboard missing near the Cayman Islands. Oil companies evacuated thousands of workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, according to reports from New Orleans. Gene Graves, marketing director for Petroleum Helicopters Inc. in Lafayette, La., said his company's 18 helipads were working at full capacity to evacuate about 10,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina said 40,000 people, many of them foreign vacationers and students, were evacuated Tuesday from the Isle of Youth off the southwestern coast as the hurricane passed 200 miles to the south. In New York City, a ham radio operator who was monitoring amateur radio communications in Jamaica said Tuesday, "Kingston is devastated, Montego Bay is hit hard and Ocho Rios is flooded. The operator, Norm Chwat, an officer with the American Red Cross Radio Club, said therth coast had been wrecked by the hurricane. Herb Schoenbaum, a radio ham operator in the Virgin Islands, said he spoke Tuesday with Dave Porter, an American staying in the Wyndham Hotel on Jamaica's Montego Bay. "Porter reported that the hotel `peeled apart like a banana' when the force of Hurricane Gilbert hit last night," Schoenbaum said. "This morning he says there is just nothing left. Boats that were on the beach, the little rental Sailfishes or Sunfishes, were driven into cars like spears _ power lines down, almost every tree in the area is on the ground." Schoenbaum said Porter told him people who were trying to enter the hotel on their hands and knees at the height of the storm were swept into the ocean. Glenn Baxter of Belgrade Lakes, Me., said he spoke with a ham operator in Jamaica who told him the roof of a hospital in Mandeville ripped off "and the hospital has caved in. And that is the worst horror show that I've heard about because that would imply that a lot of people could have been hurt." The Jamaican consulate in Miami said today it had n immediate information on the extent of damages or casualties. Jamaica was still out of contact with the rest of the world by telephone. Roger Myers, southern regional spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said both international airports in Jamaica are closed. "We've been told the government has asked commercial radio stations to remain silent so Radio Jamaica can broadcast information," Myers said. 
 With the winds of Hurricane Gilbert clocked at 175 miles per hour, U.S. weather officials called Gilbert the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Mark Zimmer, a meterologist at the National Hurricane Center, reported an Air Force reconnaissance plane measured the barometric pressure at Gilbert's center at 26.13 inches at 5:52 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. Gilbert was barreling toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. "That's the lowest pressure ever measured in the Western Hemisphere," Zimmer said. The previous record low pressure of 26.35 inches was set by the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that struck the Florida Keys with winds above 150 mph, killing 408 people, he said. With tropical storm force winds extending 250 miles north and 200 miles south of the hurricane's center, Gilbert also was one of the largest. But because the circumference of a hurricane changes so often during its course, no records are kept on their overall size, said center meterologist Jesse Moore. Hurricane Debby, which barely crossed the 74 mph threshold to hurricane strength before striking Mexico last month, was probably about half that size, Moore said. Gilbert is one of only three Category 5 storms in the hemisphere since weather officials began keeping detailed records. The others were the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Camille, which bulldozed the Mississippi Coast with 172 mph winds and a 28-foot wave in 1969, leaving $1.4 billion in damage and 256 dead. A 1900 hurricane is responsible for the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, however. That storm hit Galveston, Texas, Sept. 8 and killed more than 6,000 people. Category 5 storms have winds greater than 155 mph, barometric pressure of less than 27.17 inches and a storm surge higher than 18 feet. The storm surge _ a great dome of water that follows the eye of the hurricane across coastlines, bulldozing everything in its path _ accounts for nine out of 10 hurricane fatalities. Camille's storm surge was 25 feet high, but the hurricane center was forecasting a surge of only 8-12 feet for Gilbert, Zimmer said. The damage from these worst-case hurricanes is catastrophic _ shrubs and trees blown down, all street signs gone, roofs and windows blown away and shattered, and mobile homes destroyed. "Moisture and heat are what drives the hurricane," Zimmer said. "The engine itself is this tall chimney of warm, moist air in the center. If the atmospheric conditions in general allow this warm chimney to build to very high levels, 10-12 miles high, then you can have a severe hurricane." Category 4 storms cause extreme damage with winds from 131 to 155 mph, surge of 13-18 feet and pressure of 27.17 to 27.90. The weakest hurricanes, Category 1, cause minimal damage with winds of 74 to 95 mph, 4-5 foot surge and pressure at 28.94 or more. 
 Hurricane Gilbert battered the resorts of the Yucatan Peninsula today with 160 mph winds and torrential rains. Thousands of people fled coastal areas for shelters inland. "The wind was blowing out windows everywhere" in Cancun, an official said of the resort where thousands of Americans vacation each year. Residents along the gulf coast of Texas, 560 miles to the north, stockpiled food and supplies and prepared to evacuate. Robert Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida, said early today he expects Gilbert to make landfall on the Texas-Louisiana coast in 48 to 60 hours. The hurricane, one of the strongest in history, is "extremely dangerous," the U.S. National Weather Service said. The storm's winds reached 175 mph earlier today, but later fell slightly to 160 mph, the weather service said. Oil companies evacuated thousands of workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, according to reports from New Orleans. Gilbert, which has killed at least 11 people, moved over the island of Cozumel at 10 a.m. EDT, said Jose Pereira, a spokesman for the governor's office in Merida, capital of Yucatan state. Pereira, who spoke by telephone from Mexico City, said heavy rain was falling over the peninsula and communications with Cancun and Cozumel were out. Cancun is 240 miles east of Medira. Cozumel is 12 miles off the Yucatan coast. Military and civilian teams evacuated more than 16,000 people from coastal areas on the upper Yucatan coast between Puerto Progreso to Rio Lagartos, Pereira said. Most are in shelters in inland towns, he said. "Many people were reluctant to leave their homes," Pereira said. "They had to be convinced of the seriousness of the threat." Officials in Merida last spoke with people in Cancun early today before the center of the storm hit. "Electricity is down," he said. "We talked to them early in the morning and they said it was impressive _ all dark. The people were afraid. The wind was blowing out windows everywhere." Heavy rains began in Merida about 6 a.m. EDT, and the storm was expected to dump 5 to 10 inches on the area. The National Weather Service in Miami said the eye of the storm was over northeast Yucatan at noon EDT. The center of the storm was located near latitude 20.7 north and longitude 87.3 west, or about 150 miles east of Merida. The hurricane was moving toward the west northwest at 15 mph. Gilbert pounded the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the low-lying Cayman Islands Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. At least 11 people were reported killed, and at least 60,000 were left homeless in Jamaica. Rescue teams worked desperately to restore utilities and communications in the shattered areas. In a telephone call early today, receptionist Pablo Torres of the Carrillos Hotel in Cancun said about 150 people, most of them tourists, were crowded in the lobby on sofas and chairs. "We are full, and there is not one tourist now in the beach hotel zone," he said. "The sound of the wind outside is horrible. You couldn't leave even if you wanted to." He said the winds felled utility poles and trees and that sheets of rain were hitting the city. Jennie Valdez, a representative of the U.S. Consul, said she did not know how many tourists were in Cancun, but that government figures estimate between 40,000 and 65,000 a month. Cancun has a population of about 100,000, she said. High winds also were reported in Valladolid, a city of 80,000 located 80 miles southwest of Cancun, said Jose Joaquin Martil, local Red Cross president. Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga said late Tuesday that at least six people were killed, and an estimated 60,000 were left homeless in "the worst natural disaster in the modern history of Jamaica." Civil defense officials in the Dominican Republic, sideswiped Sunday by the storm, reported five people were known dead. The hurricane center said Gilbert was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure. It was measured at 26.31 inches, breaking the 26.35 inches recorded for the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. "That's the lowest pressure ever measured in the Western Hemisphere," said forecaster Mark Zimmer. Gilbert is a Category 5 storm, the strongest and deadliest type of hurricane. Such storms have maximum sustained winds greater than 155 mph and can cause catastrophic damage. Only two Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States _ the 1935 storm that killed 408 people in Florida and Hurricane Camille that devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969 and killed 256 people. 
 Hurricane Gilbert, one of the strongest storms ever, slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday and leveled thatched homes, tore off roofs, uprooted trees and cut off the Caribbean resorts of Cancun and Cozumel. Looters roamed the streets of Cancun, stealing from stores whose windows were blown away. Huge waves battered the beach resorts and thousands were evacuated. Despite the intensity of the onslaught and the ensuing heavy flooding, officials reported only two minor injuries. The storm killed 19 people in Jamaica and five in the Dominican Republic before moving west to Mexico. Prime Minister Edward Seaga of Jamaica said Wednesday the storm destroyed an estimated 100,000 of Jamaica's 500,000 homes when it throttled the island Monday. The Jamaican Embassy reported earlier that 500,000 of the nation's 2.3 million people were homeless. In Cancun, amateur radio operators said an oil tanker from the fleet of the government oil monopoly Pemex, the Lazaro Cardenas, had run aground on the beach in the Cancun hotel zone. Pemex officials however said all their vessels were secure. Army officials in Mexico City said about 35,000 people were evacuated from Cancun, but Cancun Mayor Jose Sanchez Zapata said about 11,000 fled. More than 120,000 people on the northeast Yucatan coast were evacuated, the Yucatan state government said. The eye of the storm passed over Cozumel and Cancun with howling winds clocked at 160 mph at about 8 a.m. EDT. The winds bent and toppled utility poles and uprooted slum dwellings. Ham radio operators around Cancun said Gilbert knocked down a radio and television communications tower, uprooted trees and blew the roofs off buildings. Floods prevented officials from reaching the hotel zone in Cancun and there were no relief efforts under way by late Wednesday. Shelters had little or no food, water or blankets and power was out. "We can't do it yet. The wind would blow them away," said an army official at city hall who declined to give his name. Bands of 25-30 youths roamed the streets of Cancun Wednesday, looting stores with shattered windows, said Alfredo Moro Sanchez, investigative coordinator of the Quintana Roo state judicial police. He said he asked for army troops to halt the looting but none had arrived by late Wednesday. About 150 tourists took refuge at the Cancun city hall. Honeymooner Sheila Fournier of Long Island said she and her husband, Pete, had been evacuated from the Villas Playa Hotel. "It had an ocean-front view _ which is now washed away," she said. Officials were checking low-lying areas of Cancun for stranded residents. There was heavy damage visible to the humble wood and thatch homes typical of the Yucatan. "There were some people who did not want to leave yesterday," the army official said. "It was something new. They didn't know what a cyclone was." At midnight EDT Gilbert was centered near latitude 21.5 north, longitude 90.2 west and approaching the north coast of Yucatan, about 60 miles east-northeast of the provincial capital, Merida, the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., said. The storm was about 550 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas, the center said in a statement. Gilbert was moving west-northwest at 15 mph and winds had decreased to 125 mph. The Mexican National Weather Service reported winds gusting as high as 218 mph earlier Wednesday with sustained winds of 179 mph. Earlier Wednesday Gilbert was classified as a Category 5 storm, the strongest ad deadliest type of hurricane. Such storms have maximum sustained winds greater than 155 mph and can cause catastrophic damage. By Wednesday night the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a Category 4, but center director Bob Sheets said:"There's no question it'll strengthen again once it comes off the Yucatan Peninsula and gets back in open water." As Gilbert moved away from the Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday night, the hurricane formed a double eye, two concentric circles of thunderstorms often characteristic of a strong storm that has crossed land and is moving over the water again. One eye was about eight miles wide, and the second about 25 miles wide, said hurricane center meteorologist Jesse Moore. "This is one of the features that we expected to see as the hurricane moved back over the water, and we do expect intensification," he said. Only two Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States _ the 1935 storm that killed 408 people in Florida and Hurricane Camille that devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969, killing 256 people. Oil companies evacuated thousands of workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula ports of Campeche, Celestum, Progreso, Sinzal, Ucaltepen, Tel-Chac, Cancun, Puerto Morelos, and Ciudad del Carmen were closed, the government news agency Notimex said. Airports in the region were closed. "The sound of the wind outside is horrible," said receptionist Pablo Torres at Cancun's Hotel Carrillos as the storm approached. The National Hurricane Center said a hurricane watch was in effect on the Texas coast from Brownsville to Port Arthur and along the coast of northeast Mexico from Tampico north. In Mexico City, the National Civil Defense System said it lost telephone contact with Cancun and Cozumel at about 8 a.m. EDT. Public buildings in Cancun were used as shelters, said Cecila Lavalle, a spokesman for Quintana Roo state government in Chetumal, 155 miles southeast of Cozumel. Jennie Valdez, a U.S. consular representative in Cancun, said she did not know how many tourists were in Cancun, but government figures estimate 40,000 to 65,000 monthly visitors. Hurricane warnings were in effect for the entire Yucatan Peninsula and widespread evacuations were reported. Winds destroyed at least 100 homes in slums of Valladolid, a town of about 45,000 about 100 miles from Cozumel, Alberto Pol, a judicial police officer, said by telephone. The National Hurricane Center said Gilbert was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure. It was measured at 26.31 inches, breaking the 26.35 inches recorded for the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. "That's the lowest pressure ever measured in the Western Hemisphere," said forecaster Mark Zimmer. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Gilbert pounded the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Seaga said Jamaica would need $8 billion in aid. Officials in the Dominican Republic, sideswiped Sunday by the storm, reported five dead. Gilbert also buffeted the Cayman Islands, but no deaths were reported. 
 A biography that portrays John Lennon as a drug-addled, anorexic bisexual who raged his way from Liverpool to New York City is "totally fiction," Yoko Ono said in a national radio broadcast. "It's amazing that somebody took such a poetic license. I don't see John in there ... It's a very dramatically described something, but it's not about John," Ono said Wednesday night in her first broadcast comments on the book by Albert Goldman. The usually reclusive Ono agreed to the interview to counter Goldman's "The Lives of John Lennon," which presents the ex-Beatle as a violent, drug-addicted drunk who wanted to dump his wife. As for Ono, Goldman shows her as a gold-digger who snorted heroin up to the time of Lennon's death. Goldman also charges she was responsible for Paul McCartney's 1980 marijuana bust in Japan, had affairs while they were married and was just as intent on a divorce as Lennon. Ono refuted virtually all of these charges, and countered through taped interviews with Lennon friends and employees that Goldman's book was based on unreliable sources and misquotes. "It's totally fiction," Yoko said during the hour-long program, which opened with Lennon's song, "Gimme Some Truth," and coincided with the book's national release Wednesday. "These people in this book are not us. It's not John and me," Ono continued. "It's unfair he's been assaulted and can't hit back. ... For some reason this book is attempting to rob both John and I of the basic human dignity that we're entitled to." The Ono interview was taped Aug. 28 at the Dakota, where the Lennons lived _ and Yoko still lives with their son, Sean. Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota on Dec. 8, 1980. The interview was broadcast nationwide via the Westwood One Network; spokeswoman Laurie Wilde said an exact figure on how many stations picked up the broadcast was not available. Also appearing were Sean and Lennon other son, Julian. Ono was interviewed by longtime associate Elliot Mintz, who is described in Goldman's book as a spy for Yoko _ a charge Mintz denied during the show. "It is, for one, very upsetting, but most of all it is lies, untruths ... The whole thing is just sickening," said Julian, who also refuted Goldman's tales of Lennon as a violent father. Mintz read excerpts from the book to Yoko, who then responded to the allegations point by point. She denied that Lennon was homosexual; that he was using drugs while living at the Dakota with his son, Sean; that he had become a reclusive rock 'n' roll Howard Hughes. She did acknowledge having a heroin problem during the late 1970s, but rejected Goldman's assertion that she had a $5,000-a-week habit. The book has already drawn angry responses from friends of Lennon and Ono McCartney, who contradicted one anecdote involving Lennon smashing a painting in Paul's home, has urged a boycott of the book. After Yoko's rebuttal, listeners were invited to dial 900-digit telephone numbers to vote on whether the book was an accurate portrayal of the Lennons' life. Results were not expected until later today. Goldman, who conducted more than 1,200 interviews for his Lennon book, has written controversial biographies of comedian Lenny Bruce and Elvis Presley. 
 The most intense hurricane on record surged toward Texas today after battering the Yucatan Peninsula with 160 mph winds, leveling slums, pummeling posh resorts and forcing tens of thousands to flee. Hurricane Gilbert, which has left nearly one in four Jamaicans homeless, slackened somewhat as it swirled over land, but the storm was beginning to gain strength over open water as it moved toward the U.S. Gulf Coast with sustained winds of 120 mph. The storm was headed west northwest, said National Hurricane Center director Bob Sheets. It was moving at 15 mph and dumping up to 10 inches of rain. "The area that we have the most likely possibility that this hurricane will make landfall is in the northern part of Mexico or the southeastern, southern part of Texas," he said. At 3 p.m. today, the center of the storm was near latitude 22.3 north and longitude 92.9 west, or about 380 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas, the National Weather Service said. Brownsville was given a 21 percent probability of being hit, though a hurricane watch was in effect along the entire Texas coast as well as the northeastern Mexican coast from Tampico. Earlier this week the storm struck the Carribean, ravaging Jamaica, the Dominican Repubic, the Cayman Islands and Haiti, killing at least 19 in Jamaica and five in the Dominican Republic. Haiti declared a state of emergency across its southern peninsula, where at least 10 hurricane-related deaths have been reported. The storm, about 450 miles wide, hit the Yucatan coast at dawn Wednesday, thrashing beaches with 23-foot waves, uprooting trees, knocking out electricity and water supplies and severing telephone lines. Mexican officials reported at least seven injuries. There were no reports of deaths. Gilbert battered the provincial capital of Merida and the gulf port cities of Puerto Progreso, Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen, closing airports and roads and knocking out communications and power and innundating streets and highways. About 20,000 people were evacuated from Puerto Progreso and other coastal towns, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Mexico City said by telephone today. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, he said. The ministry said the storm seriously damaged the luxury hotel zone in the resort of Cancun and destroyed about a quarter of the homes on the nearby island of Cozumel. Ham radio operators in Mexico City also told The Associated Press they had reports of massive damage to several hotels. Authorities were particularly concerned about the people trapped on another resort island just off Cancun, tiny Isla Mujeres. A navy spokesman in Mexico City said he had no word on the plight of an estimated 15,000 people stranded there. Three ferries linking the island with the mainland were lost in the storm, but there were no reports of casualties. In Campeche, boats were driven onto the street running along the waterfront, Ramon Castillo, a night watchman at the newspaper Novedades of Campeche, said in a telephone interview. "There is no light, there is no radio, there is nothing. There is much damage. The whole city is flooded," he said. Sheets said the hurricane was expected to hit land midday Friday and that its sustained winds would today "certainly increase to 130, 140 miles per hour." "It's going to have an impact over a fairly large area," Sheets said on CBS-TV's "This Morning." "Those major destructive winds are going to be in there fairly tight close to the center. But the impacts are going to be felt over most of the Texas area." The hurricane center said Gilbert was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure, which was measured at 26.31 inches, breaking the 26.35 inches recorded for the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. In the Yucatan state capital of Merida, the storm's 160 mph winds destroyed nearly all the thatched houses in one district, uprooted trees, road signs and cut off water supplies, said Gonzalez Correa, news editor of Novedades. A spokeswoman with the National Civil Defense System in Mexico City said at least 20,000 people had flocked to Merida from coastal areas. Civil defense officials said 6,000 tourists left beachside motels and 30,000 local people also sought temporary shelter. U.S. consular officials said they did not know how many tourists were in Cancun, which receives about 50,000 visitors per month. The storm, spawned Saturday southeast of Puerto Rico, appeared to have hit Jamaica the hardest. That island nation's prime minister, Edward Seaga, said Wednesday that it destroyed about 100,000 of Jamaica's 500,000 homes. He estimated damage at $8 billion. Earlier Wednesday, Gilbert was classified as a Category 5 storm, the strongest and deadliest type of hurricane. Such storms have maximum sustained winds greater than 155 mph and can cause catastrophic damage. By Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a Category 4 and to a Category 3 by this morning. Only two Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States _ the 1935 storm that killed 408 people in Florida and Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969 and killed 256 people. 
 Thousands of coastal residents from Mexico to Louisiana fled to higher ground Thursday as fierce Hurricane Gilbert sent the first of its storms against Texas after thrashing the Yucatan Peninsula. "This is a killer storm," said Gordon Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency of Management. "I feel sorry for anybody wherever this hits." The death toll from the storm's onslaught through the Caribbean islands and the Yucatan was at least 47, and damage estimates reached $8 billion. Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga declared a one-month public emergency. By late evening, a torrential rain was falling in Brownsville. At 11 p.m. CDT, the storm center was near latitude 22.8 north, longitude 94.4 west, or about 275 miles southeast of Brownsville, moving west-northwest between 12 and 15 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and accompanied by a 5- to 10-inch rainfall, according to the National Weather Service. "If this motion continues, the center of the hurricane will cross the coast near the Texas-Mexico border on Friday evening," the weather service said. "If a northwest turn should occur, the landfall could be further up the Texas coast." The weather service issued a hurricane warning for Mexico's northern coast and the southern half of the 370-mile Texas coast from Brownsville to Port O'Connor, including 250,000-resident Corpus Christi. A hurricane watch remained in effect for the remainder of the Texas coast, from Port O'Connor north to Port Arthur near the Louisiana border. The weather service said warnings might be extended northward, depending on the path of the 450-mile wide storm. Texas Gov. Bill Clements sent National Guard units to Alice, McAllen and Corpus Christi, the first such deployment for the hurricane, to assist in communications and rescue duties. Clements also issued an emergency proclamation allowing local authorities to suspend laws "to preserve the health, safety and welfare of the public," including such things as the direction of travel on highways. Grocery stores ran low on bottled water, batteries, canned tuna and bread as people laid in supplies. Homeowners covered windows and doors with plywood and shatter-proofing hurricane tape. Offshore oil workers left their rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. On Galveston Island, City Manager Doug Matthews recommended Thursday evening that the city's 62,000 residents start evacuating. "We are dealing with people's lives therefore at 8 o'clock we are recommending evacuation of the island. We feel that we cannot wait until the morning to make that decision," Matthews said, adding that roadblocks would be set up at midnight on Interstate 45 to limit access to the island. In Brownsville, Texas' southernmost city, winds began to pick up around noon under overcast skies. Police said they were asking residents to consider evacuating, but were not ordering it. "We've never evacuated the city and the point is, where are you going to move 100,000 people?" said Sgt. Dean Poos. A Greyhound-Trailways bus spokesman said the company was doubling its schedule of outbound buses to accommodate those fleeing the storm. Lorena Curry, who has lived in Brownsville since 1935, said she plans to ride out the storm. "I've been through them before. I'm going to stick around at my home." But she added, "I could get along without a hurricane very well." Gilbert surged into the gulf after battering the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico with 160 mph winds, forcing tens of thousands to flee. After crossing the peninsula, Gilbert's winds weakened to 120 mph, but forecasters predicted the storm would intensify again as it moves over open water. "The shower and thunderstorm activity that we see taking place around the hurricane itself is getting better organized, more vigorous, so we think it's starting to strengthen," said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Sheets said the hurricane's sustained winds would "certainly increase to 130, 140 miles per hour." In the coastal resort of South Padre Island, about 25 miles southeast of Brownsville, the mayor ordered its 1,000 residents to evacuate. "We can't force them to leave, but it doesn't make any sense to stay," said Mayor Bob Pinkerton Jr., adding that water and electricity would be turned off Thursday afternoon. Tropical storm force winds, at least 39 mph, extended outward up to 250 miles to the north and 200 miles to the south of the center. The storm's first landfall earlier this week left at least 26 people dead in Jamaica, five in the Dominican Republic, 10 in Haiti and the six in Mexico. It also left a half-million people homeless in Jamaica and caused widespread damage to the Cayman Islands. The storm barreled into the Yucatan coast at dawn Wednesday, thrashing beaches with 23-foot waves, uprooting trees, knocking out electricity and water supplies and severing telephone lines. In Campeche, the state capital on the peninusula's west coast, boats and seaweed littered the streets of hundreds of yards from the shore after Gilbert passed through. "The whole city is flooded. Everything is dark," said Ramon Castillo, a watchman at the newspaper Novedades de Campeche. "I've lived here all my life and I have never seen bad weather like this. People are scared." Mexican officials reported six deaths, including two babies who drowned, and at least seven people were injured, but authorities were unable to reach many isolated villages. Gilbert pounded the provincial capital of Merida and the gulf port cities of Puerto Progreso, Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen, closing airports and roads and knocking out communications and power and flooding streets and highways. About 20,000 people were evacuated from Puerto Progreso and other coastal towns, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Mexico City said by telephone Thursday. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, he said. On Mexico's northern coast, people were evacuated from fishing villages and towns into shelters in Matamoros, a city of 400,000 about 12 miles inland near Brownsville. The hurricane center said Gilbert at one point was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure, which was measured Tuesday at 26.13 inches, breaking the 26.35 inches recorded for the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. The storm, spawned Saturday southeast of Puerto Rico, appeared to have hit Jamaica the hardest. Seaga said it destroyed about 100,000 of Jamaica's 500,000 homes. He estimated damage at $8 billion. Seaga said in a nationwide radio broadcast Thursday that the one-month "period of public emergency," including a dawn-to-dusk curfew to prevent looting, was put into effect "to enable normalcy to resume in the shortest possible time and to allow the rebuilding process to begin." On Wednesday, Gilbert was classified as a Category 5 storm, the strongest and deadliest type of hurricane. Such storms have maximum sustained winds greater than 155 mph and can cause catastrophic damage. By Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center downgraded it to a Category 4 and to a Category 3 by Thursday morning. 
 Hurricane Gilbert's growth from a harmless low pressure zone off Africa to a ferocious killer in the Gulf of Mexico was fueled by a combination of heat, moisture and wind that baffles forecasters. "It's a matter of getting everything together in the right place in the right time," Gil Clark of the National Hurricane Center said Thursday. "It doesn't happen very often. How it develops, we don't know." Gilbert came to the attention of center forecasters Sept. 3 as a dry low pressure trough moving west out of Africa. "We get 50 or 60 of these off Africa every summer. About one of six develop," said Clark. By Sept. 8, the system became a depression. It reached tropical storm status by Saturday and a hurricane Sunday. A tropical wave becomes a depression when winds start swirling. When sustained winds reach 39 mph, the system becomes a named tropical storm. It reaches hurricane status when sustained winds hit 74 mph. Why Gilbert organized and strengthened while other systems didn't "is a mystery more or less," said University of Miami meteorology Professor Rainer Bleck. "The first part of the summer we were biting our nails, wondering why these (other) disturbances didn't develop," he said Thursday. "That's something meteorologists would like to know more about." But the scientists do know what fuels a budding storm once development begins. And they know that development is sparked when winds converge, and that growth is affected by time and place. "If that happens in an area where there's plenty of moisture in the lower atmosphere (the bottom 10,000 feet or so), this convergence may lead to upward motion and cloud formation," Bleck said. "If clouds form, the heat of condensation in the clouds occasionally provides `positive feedback' to the convergence pattern. That strengthens it," he said, adding that storms can begin budding only off the equator because of the Earth's rotation. Eventually, a vortex is created. "Any time you contract an air mass, they will start spinning. That's what makes the tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards, those winter storms," Bleck said. Hurricanes "are useful to the climate machine. Their primary role is to transport heat from the lower to the upper atmosphere," he said. "The sun puts energy into the water, the top of the oceans and lowest part of the atmosphere. That has to be distributed from the bottom to higher levels of the atmosphere." When the depression that would become Gilbert neared Barbados, warm Atlantic waters nurtured it. "This time of year in the northwest Caribbean is best for development," Clark said. "If you get a storm in this area in September, when the water's warmest, it can just explode. This is where Camille formed and exploded," referring to the 1969 storm that slammed into the Gulf Coast. "It is an exciting thing to watch. If you're on the beach watching the storm surge, it's a different story," he said. The hurricane center said Gilbert was the most intense storm on record in terms of barometric pressure, measured at 26.13 inches Tuesday night. That broke the 26.35 inches of the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys. 
 Hurricane Gilbert weakened to a tropical storm as it blustered northwestward today but it threw tornadoes and sheets of rain at thousands of shuttered evacuees along the Texas-Mexico border. At least 109 people have been killed and more than 800,000 left homeless since Gilbert ripped through the Caribbean with 175 mph wind earlier this week, then crossed the Yucatan Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico before slamming into northeastern Mexico. One person died today in Texas after being injured in a tornado. But by this morning, the once massive storm's maximum sustained winds had flagged to 65 mph, nine less than hurricane strength, and forecasters said the eye had all but disappeared. However, they warned of continued danger from flash flooding inland. Gilbert was downgraded to a tropical storm at 6 a.m. EDT as it proceeded 50 miles southeast of the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico, said Noel Rishnychok, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. Winds were still weakening as the storm moved west-northwest at 12 mph, he said. Gulf Coast residents expressed relief that the storm, which earlier was deemed the most powerful ever tracked in the Western Hemisphere, pulled its punch as it came ashore despite delivering a spate of tornadoes. "We're thankful," said Betty Turner, mayor of Corpus Christi. "What could have been one of the most deadly storms in history appears to have missed us." Corpus Christi residents who evacuated were eager to return, but Turner said, "We're saying don't do it because of the flooding." At least a dozen tornadoes peppered southern Texas today, following 14 on Friday, killing one woman, striking a hospital complex, military bases and a mobile home park, authorities said. Some injuries were reported. At 6 a.m. CDT, the center of the storm was in northern Mexico near latitude 25.0 degrees north and longitude 99.8 west, or about 150 miles southwest of Brownsville, located at the southernmost tip of Texas. Gilbert's remnants should bring very heavy rains to Rio Grande valley before heading north up the Mississippi River Valley as a "huge rain-making machine," said Mark Zimmer, meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. "The danger of flash flooding in Texas is very great," Zimmer said. "Rainfall as high as 10 to 15 inches _ maybe even 20 inches _ is expected." By midweek, the storm should be in the lower Ohio River Valley and end up in the Great Lakes as nothing more than foul weather, forecasters said. "The people in the Midwest better dust off their umbrellas," Zimmer said. Gilbert, responsible for billions of dollars in damage during a weeklong rampage across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, barreled ashore Friday afternoon in Tamaulipas state, a sparsely populated area of Mexico about 120 miles south of Brownsville. The eye passed over Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz, two small villages a few miles north of La Pesca, Mexico, where ocean tides coursed over two miles of flatlands and into the town. "We presume (the Mexican villages) are getting a good pounding from 120 mph winds," Zimmer said Friday. Thousands of people evacuated in areas of northeastern Mexico, including the entire beach area of Matamoros, a city of 280,000 just across the border. To the south, about 300,000 people were homeless in Yucatan state and 10,000 more were homeless in Campeche, on the west coast of the peninsula, the government news agency Notimex said. The storm had left more than 500,000 homeless in Jamaica earlier in the week. In Texas, heavy rains fell on Brownsville, with gusts up to 82 mph recorded at nearby Padre Island, but the vulnerable coastal area escaped the worst of the storm. Police in nearby Harlingen said the windows of 20 to 30 cars in a parking lot were shattered by high winds or a tornado. Low-lying coastal roads were closed by high water. About 125 shelters holding 50,000 people were open in a four-county area of southern Texas around Brownsville, said American Red Cross spokeswoman Barbara Lohman. When the eye of the storm passed to the south, evacuees were eager to return to their homes. "We're going home. We think everything is going to be OK," Philip Gibbons said Friday night, leaving a Brownsville shelter into a downpour. "We don't think it's going to get bad and there was no need to stay here anymore." Others, however, were more cautious. "I wouldn't want to go home and then have my family hurt by a tornado," said Praxedis Lindsey, 25, of Brownsville, who was at a shelter with his pregnant wife and son. Elsewhere, most of the estimated 25,000 people evacuated in southern Louisiana and 20,000 in the island city of Galveston were allowed to return home Friday. In Alabama, tornadoes were reported in seven counties, uprooting trees but causing no major damage or injuries. One Texas drowning was indirectly related to the hurricane. A 3-year-old boy fell from his family's shrimp boat when they moved the vessel for safe mooring, officials said. 
 Rains from Hurricane Gilbert sent a river raging over its banks in Monterrey, sweeping at least 10 policemen to their deaths and overturning buses loaded with evacuees from Matamoros, police said today. The flooding occurred in Monterrey, an industrial city of 3 million people, located 110 miles from the Texas border and 140 miles inland from Matamoros. At least 10 police officers were swept away while on a rescue mission around midnight, a judicial police officer said. Several buses loaded with evacuees overturned in the raging water and more were feared drowned. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said early today it had been raining for more than 24 hours. A trailer truck also slid into the Santa Catarina river in the driving rain and its two occupants were missing, the local newspaper El Norte said. Recreational areas with soccer fields, basketball courts, tennis courts and jogging trails have been built along the river in the last few years. Monterrey is a major northern industrial center and the capital of Nuevo Leon state. The Santa Catarina river crosses Monterrey. The storm slammed into Mexico for the second time in a week Friday afternoon. The eye of 450-mile-wide hurricane, with 120 mph winds, crossed onto land at 5:35 p.m. EDT, sweeping ashore in a sparsely populated area 120 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, weather reports said. Although the storm had lost much of its muscle, it caused floods and mudslides after it barreled into Mexico. Earlier in the week, Gilbert killed at least 29 and left 300,000 people homeless in the Yucatan Peninsula. The hurricane has killed at least 109 people, including one in Texas, 39 in Mexico, 26 in Jamaica, 30 in Haiti, five in the Dominican Republic and eight in Honduras. However, the death toll is expected to rise. In Matamoros just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, the storm felled trees, downed power lines and flattened dozens of tin shack homes on the evacuated beachfront. About 5,000 people were evacuated inland. Nearly two dozen tornadoes were reported around Brownsville. Much of the Yucatan Peninsula remained without communications and supplies today. At 9 a.m. EDT today, Gilbert's center was located near latitude 25.1 north and longitude 100.3 west, or 185 miles west southwest of Brownsville and 40 miles south of Monterrey, said the National Hurricane Center in Florida. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be near 50 mph and the storm was expected to weaken further during the next 24 hours. The center said rainfall of 10 to 15 inches was accompanying the storm with up to 20 inches locally. Flash floods were likely, it said. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 12 mph, and was expected to follow that track through midday today before turning gradually to the northwest, forecasters said. In Matamoros, officials said the worst part of the storm appeared to have passed. "Up to now the damages are not considered very grave," said Jose Inez Gonzalez, a Matamoros government spokesman. Officials distributed crackers and water to thousands of people in shelters and rged them to stay put until the storm ended. Gilbert hit Soto la Marina, a town of 8,000 people 20 miles inland from La Pesca on late Friday, its mayor told The Associated Press by telephone. "There is considerable material damage to the town. It is still raining very hard," said Mayor Ruben Hinojosa Cortina. "We will just have to stay in and wait until tomorrow to survey the situation." Hinojosa Cortina said about 3,000 refugees from La Pesca were sheltered in Soto la Marina but other coastal residents had not been evacuated or decided to ride out the storm. The Sierra de Tamaulipas, a small mountain range between Monterrey and the coast, should blunt the hurricane's strength, said Mark Zimmer, a meterologist at the National Hurricane Center. Zimmer expected the last of hurricane-force winds today. But he predicted very heavy rains as warm hurricane winds rise into cooler mountain air, possibly causing flash floods and mudslides. The Mexican armed forces began emergency flights Friday of food, medicines and water to Cancun, Cozumel and other disaster sites in the Yucatan. In many locations, hurricane victims were without food, drinking water, electrical power, gasoline and communications since Wednesday. 
 Taking a break from the headaches of the Palestinian uprising and Israel's election campaign, thousands of Israelis turned out Saturday for a canine beauty pageant. Marco, a feisty boxer owned by Dov Amir, padded off with the champion's trophy after beating out 800 other pretty pooches in Israel's dog-of-the-year contest held in Tel Aviv's Exhibition Center. "We can find time for other things besides the intefadeh," said organizer Avi Marshak, using the Arabic word for uprising to describe the 9-month-old wave of Palestinian violence aimed at ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. About 20,000 people attended the two-day show, organizers said. Israeli couples in cutoff jeans and short-sleeved shirts pushed baby strollers from ring to ring to view the more than 50 different breeds ranging from tiny lap dogs like the Yorkshire terriers to Great Danes and St. Bernards. Marshak said the contest was sanctioned by the World Kennel Club based in Brussels, Belgium, and had judges from the Netherlands, South Africa, Italy and Britain. But although the competition was billed as an international event, organizers conceded there were few if any contestants from abroad. This was in contrast to 1987, before the uprising began, when a World Dog Show competition attracted scores of foreign competitors to Israel. "Even so, we don't feel the intefadeh here," said Rafi Shahaf, a veterinarian, who was interviewed in the show ring where Conan, his steel gray Mastino Napoletano, had just taken a blue ribbon. The show briefly pushed the Nov. 1 general elections out of the limelight for the doglovers. Experts say the razor-tight race between the right-wing Likud Party and the left-leaning Labor Party could determine the future of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands. 
 When celebrity biographer Albert Goldman began digging into "The Lives of John Lennon," his first move was to mail a long, reverential request for help to Yoko Ono. "She was Numero Uno, you've got to start with her. I sent her a sincere letter, because at that time I was a true believer in rock's greatest love story. ... I told her, `I'm in your corner,"' Goldman recalled. Ono never responded. And after 1,200 interviews and 6{ years, the dream was over for Goldman, his mythic view of Lennon the Great altered. Expecting the best, Goldman claims to have uncovered the worst: a volatile, debauched Lennon who evolved into the Howard Hughes of rock 'n' roll, tucked in his Dakota bed for days at a time. That vision of the ex-Beatle has infuriated Lennon supporters, family and friends and prompted charges of fiction writing; it also taught Goldman _ who says he is a John Lennon fan _ a hard lesson. "It doesn't pay to meet your idols. Just enjoy them; don't try to see the reality," Goldman said. "My books are a cold dose of reality. You get in the Beatle shower, and suddenly the water goes cold." Goldman, whose past tell-all biographies dealt with Elvis Presley and Lenny Bruce, remains unmoved by the hue and cry from the music industry, from Ono and from Lennon's Beatle buddy, Paul McCartney. "My books are bad for business," Goldman said in a phone interview from Munich, West Germany. "They're bad for Paul's business, bad for Yoko's business, back for the jive myth of rock business. Those people have to hate me." Myth-shattering is a not a bad thing, Goldman said. For example, he cites Lennon's disillusioning meeting with Presley at Graceland in 1965. "John was very hooked into Elvis. Elvis was his measure of success," said Goldman. "And the myth of Elvis: awesome. But the reality of Elvis: a mess." Goldman also rejected the complaint raised by Ono, McCartney, Julian Lennon and others that Lennon is an easy target to defame because he's no longer around to answer the allegations. "You can't say John lacks for defenders. And Yoko isn't dead. Colonel Parker (Presley's manager) isn't dead. Ninety-five percent of the people in my books aren't dead. They can do something about it," said Goldman, his voice quickening. "This business of making it easy for defending myself is insane. I'm the target of scores of attacks. I can't imagine a harder thing for an author." Those attacks don't really bother him, unless they come from someone who hasn't read "The Lives of John Lennon," Goldman said. "A lot of people already made up their minds. They hear Albert Goldman, John Lennon, homosexuality _ bang, let him have it! I resent people commenting on a book they haven't read, including Yoko," the author said. Ono's reaction came on a nationally broadcast response to the book. She labeled Goldman's version of life with the Lennons "totally fiction" and brought out Lennon's sons, Julian and 12-year-old Sean, to refute the biography. "These giant promotions of Yoko are presented as honest documentaries, when they're in-house documentaries," said Goldman, who complimented Ono on a well-prepared show. "She takes no chances. This was another no-chance Yoko." As for the sensational charges of bisexuality, drug abuse by Yoko and John, wild drinking binges, anorexia and reclusiveness, Goldman says it all fits together with the image of Lennon presented by those who knew him. "My thesis is John Lennon was a divided mind. Every yin had a yang," said Goldman. "There is nothing more natural than for John to try the other side (sexually). That's just the kind of guy he was. He wanted to try everything once." 
 Florence Griffith Joyner twice smashed a world record Thursday as she blazed to a gold medal in the 200-meter sprint. She also stayed on target to become the second woman to win four track and field gold medals in a single Olympics. Griffith Joyner dashed to her second gold in 21.34 seconds, shattering the world mark she had set just 90 minutes earlier in her semifinal heat. In that race, she ran 21.56, eclipsing the 9-year-old mark of 21.71 set in 1979 by Marita Koch of East Germany and equaled three times since. In her 200 quarterfinal heat Wednesday, Griffith Joyner ran an Olympic record 21.76 seconds. Griffith Joyner, who set an Olympic record Sunday in winning the 100 meters, had a big lead Thursday as she turned the curve for the final 100 meters. She glided to the wire. "I know I can run much faster," she said. "I felt very relaxed. That's the key." Griffith Joyner, 28, is scheduled to run in the 400-meter relay Saturday and may compete in the 1,600-meter relay that day. Noted for her long, painted fingernails and racy, colorful bodysuits, Griffith Joyner of Los Angeles has a chance to match the 1984 quadruple gold medal performance of U.S. sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis, and by Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands in 1948. 
 Cynthia Lennon joins the throng denouncing the new, unauthorized biography of her late former husband, John Lennon, as written by a money-hungry author capitalizing on untruths. "People who write books like this, it is for greed, and as far as I'm concerned, they're gravediggers, no more, no less," Mrs. Lennon says on the CBS show "60 Minutes" scheduled for broadcast Sunday evening. "Grave robbers, body snatchers, you name it, they are it." The biography by Albert Goldman, "The Lives of John Lennon," depicts the former Beatle as an anorexic bisexual addled by drugs who raged his way from Liverpool to New York. It was released Sept. 14. Goldman, who defends his Lennon book and said it is based on 1,200 interviews, also has written controversial biographies of comedian Lenny Bruce and Elvis Presley. Lennon was murdered outside his Upper West Side home on Dec. 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman. "All I know and all the people that love John know that we had our years (and) that nobody, no film, no book will ever complete what went on in our lives. That's our part of our hearts that has to stay with us, must not be public," Mrs. Lennon said. "I love John. I've always loved John because he was my first love. But, I mean, I've loved him in different ways. I love his memory. I loved what he did. I understood his madness, his phases. I just feel that I understood." The couple divorced a few months before Lennon married Yoko Ono in 1969. Ms. Ono already has trashed the book, calling it "totally fiction" in a nationwide broadcast that coincided with the release of the book. She too was interviewed on the "60 Minutes" show, entitled "The Two Mrs. Lennons." "These people in this book are not us. It's not John and me," Ono said in the taped radio broadcast. Cynthia and John's son, Julian Lennon, also denounced the book on the radio taping, calling it "lies, untruths," and adding that "the whole thing is just sickening." Sean Lennon, the son of Yoko and John who is now 12, added his voice on the CBS broadcast, rebutting charges that his father was inattentive to parenting. "I think he did a lot of fathering in the five years that I knew him," Sean says. "He spent so much time with me not just at home, but everywhere, you know." 
 The 1988 Summer Olympics, kept free of terrorism but tainted by drug scandals, closed Sunday with the pealing of a medieval bell to symbolize the sorrow of parting. The United States finished third in medals. The 1,000-year-old, 72-ton Emille Bell, which according to Korean legend has the saddest tone of any in the world, tolled farewell to the more than 9,000 athletes from 160 nations who participated in the 24th Olympiad. The 16-day event, conducted under extraordinary security, wrapped up with the Soviet Union winning the lion's share of the 237 medals events. The Soviets took home 132 medals, including 55 gold, the most ever in a Summer Olympics without a major-power boycott. East Germany had 102 medals and 37 gold, and the United States 94 medals and 36 gold. Many felt that the United States was robbed of a second-place tie for golds when judges awarded a bout to a South Korean boxer over American Roy Jones in the 156-pound event on the final day of competition. Because of boycotts in 1980 and 1984, the Games were the first meeting between the Soviet Union and the United States since 1976 in Montreal, and matchups between the two nations provided some of the Games' highlights. The U.S. men's volleyball team beat the Soviets to defend its 1984 Olympic championship, providing consolation for America's upset in the men's basketball quarterfinals. America also defeated the Soviets in women's basketball and men's water polo. At least 1 billion people watched the Olympics via a 115-nation, worldwide TV hookup. The Seoul Games had the greatest number of athletes (9,633), the most countries, the most gold medals and the most venues (34). Communist North Korea, which demanded a role in the Games, boycotted them, but the only sports power to follow suit was Cuba. Among the highlights: _Greg Louganis won the Olympic Spirit Award as top American athlete Sunday for winning gold medals in platform and 3-meter springboard diving. He accomplished the same feat in 1980 and became the first man to sweep the events twice. The 28-year-old Louganis, who hit his head on the board in the preliminaries and received five stitches, announced his retirement from diving and said he wanted to pursue acting. _Sisters-in-law Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee led an American assault on the record books in track and field. Griffith Joyner won golds in the 100, the 200 and the 400-meter relay, and silver in the 1,600-meter relay. She set a world record in the 200 and an Olympic record in the 100. Joyner-Kersee won two golds, taking the heptathlon with a world record 7,291 points and the long jump with an Olympic mark of 24 feet, 3{ inches. _Kristin Otto of East Germany won six golds in swimming. American swimmer Matt Biondi won seven medals, five gold, while Janet Evans earned three golds in the pool for the United States. _Daniela Silivas of Romania dominated women's gymnastics, winning three golds, two silvers and a bronze. _West German Steffi Graf completed tennis's first Golden Slam, winning the gold medal as well as all four Grand Slam tournaments _ Wimbledon and the U.S., French and Australian Opens _ in a calendar year. There were low moments as well. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, the most prominent of 10 athletes who tested positive for drugs, was stripped of his gold medal in the 100 meters and title of world's fastest man, and flew home in disgrace, his career in jeopardy. He was accused of using muscle-building steroids. Four other medals _ two Bulgarian weightlifting golds, a Hungarian weightlifing silver and a British judo bronze _ also were stripped for drugs, and five non-medalists tested positive for substances ranging from caffeine to diuretics. Early in the Games, five people connected to the Korean boxing team were suspended for attacking a New Zealand referee after a Korean lost a decision to a Bulgarian. Another Korean boxer staged a 67-minute sit-in in the ring to protest his loss. Anthony Hembrick, a U.S. boxer expected to win a gold, never got to fight; his coach misread the schedule and he missed the bus to the arena. Two gold medal-winning U.S. swimmers were arrested for carrying a stone lion's head out of a hotel bar, but charges were dropped. American runner Johnny Gray kicked a taxicab in an argument with its driver. He was arrested and released. Security measures against the possibility of terrorism were extraordinary, including metal detectors, numerous checkpoints and ID cards, but except for scattered protests by student radicals, the Games proceeded without incident. At the closing ceremonies, before the great torch was extinguished, Korea passed the Olympic flag to representatives from Barcelona, site of the 1992 Games. 
 The Summer Olympics will be remembered for moments of glory like that enjoyed by U.S. diver Greg Louganis and the startling moment of disgrace when the gold was stripped from Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson. The Soviet Union won the first U.S.-Soviet Olympic medal contest since 1976, getting 55 gold medals to 37 for East Germany and 36 for the United States. Host South Korea rose to fourth in the world with 12 golds. The fear of terrorism and massive civil unrest prompted extraordinary security, but neither bogey materialized as nearly 10,000 athletes from 160 countries tested their mettle in 16 days of competition ended Sunday. As always, there were shining moments of glory, from an opening ceremony with exotic dancers and parachutists to a closing with hugs and tears, fireworks and dances, and the mascots of Seoul and Barcelona, the site of the 1992 Games, floating together into the starry night. Louganis claimed his second pair of gold medals after hitting his head on a springboard. He said he talked with his coach about quitting the Olympics after hitting the board and opening a cut that needed five stitches to close. "We walked and discussed all the things we had gone through to get there," he said. "I decided to stay in, and I'm glad I did." Louganis said Sunday he is retiring from diving to begin an acting career. What had been the highest moment of the Games _ Ben Johnson rocketing to victory over U.S. great Carl Lewis in a 100-meter dash world record _ led to the deepest pain when the Canadian was caught cheating with muscle-building anabolic steroids. Twenty years from now, when most of the records set in Seoul are broken, the impact of Johnson's disgrace will still be felt if athletes and trainers heed the events here and end doping. "There have been high points and some low points, and the most important low point was Ben Johnson," Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, said today. "That was indeed a blow." But catching Johnson and expelling him and nine other athletes with positive drug tests was an indication that "we have won the battle against doping," Samaranch said. Sports officials from the United States and the Soviet Union on Sunday announced Sunday they would join forces to work towards the elimination of drugs from sport. A statement issued by the U.S. and Soviet Olympic committees said the groups would investigate using the exchange of testing teams, lab results and technical data; education programs; and uniform penalties. For the United States, a serious problem at the Seoul Games was a rising tide of anti-American sentiment. It was exacerbated by NBC's coverage, which the Koreans saw as anti-Korean and insensitive to local culture; the arrest of several American athletes; and the perceived rudeness of the U.S. team at the opening ceremony. The Soviets, meanwhile, cultivated friendship by bringing in the Bolshoi Ballet, the Moscow Philharmonic, films, a photo exhibit and copies of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda. The announcement of an unprecedented sports exchange program between South Korea and the Soviet Union and the arrival of the first Soviet diplomats since World War II also warmed relations. Soviet athletes, as they did in Calgary, Canada, during the Winter Games, made a special effort to meet with local people. American athletes tended to isolate themselves. All those differences became apparent at the sporting events, where Koreans often cheered louder for the Soviets or East Germans than they did for Americans, despite a close 40-year relationship with the United States. Still, there were Louganis and other Americans to unabashedly cheer for _ like sisters-in-law Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who led an assault on the track and field record books, and Louganis. Griffith Joyner won golds in the 100, the 200 and the 400-meter relay, and silver in the 1,600-meter relay. She set a world record in the 200 and an Olympic record in the 100. Joyner-Kersee won two golds, taking the heptathlon with a world record 7,291 points and the long jump with an Olympic mark of 24 feet, 3{ inches. 
 "I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now? Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." _ John Lennon. Watching the new movie, "Imagine: John Lennon," was very painful for the late Beatle's wife, Yoko Ono. "The only reason why I did watch it to the end is because I'm responsible for it, even though somebody else made it," she said. Cassettes, film footage and other elements of the acclaimed movie were collected by Ono. She also took cassettes of interviews by Lennon, which were edited in such a way that he narrates the picture. Andrew Solt ("This Is Elvis") directed, Solt and David L. Wolper produced and Solt and Sam Egan wrote it. "I think this is really the definitive documentary of John Lennon's life," Ono said in an interview. "What John was really about is depicted in this film, very accurately and without whitewashing. "I did view it. I didn't have them take any footage out. "I wanted the truth. In the sense you had to put a 40-year life into an hour and a half; balance is a very serious consideration. I think they did a remarkable job and very tastefully so." There is a soundtrack album and a coffeetable book with comments primarily by Lennon, tied in with the film and using the same title. "Imagine there's no heaven "It's easy if you try "No hell below us "Above us only sky "Imagine all the people "Living for today. ..." "Imagine" is more than a Lennon elegy. Though it fails to delve too deeply into the darker side of Lennon and the Beatles (drug use, abusive tempers, manager Brian Epstein's death), it does capture the music and the times in which Lennon lived. One intriguing episode in "Imagine" shows cartoonist Al Capp ("L'il Abner") being antagonistic toward the Lennons during their bed-in, when they stayed in bed for a week to publicize their concern for peace. "We were naive," Ono said. "A lot of things happened because we were naive. Maybe that was our strength. To us, Al Capp was just a cartoonist and you naturally assume a cartoonist is liberal, with a sense of humor. We didn't expect hostility. "Al Capp is one incident that was filmed. In those days we did numerous interviews because of our stand for world peace. ... There were some very rough interviews. The hostility that was shown to us bluntly by reporters in those days was incredible. Each time, I think we were hurt." Ono said Lennon wrote the song "Imagine" in 1969 or '70. "We did the bed-in, the Toronto Peace Festival, the `War's Over' billboard. He was saying we need an anthem for this whole concept of world peace. I think it's one of the songs that will really go on forever in people's minds." "Imagine there's no countries "It isn't hard to do "Nothing to kill or die for "And no religion too "Imagine all the people "Living life in peace ... "You may say i'm a dreamer "But i'm not the only one "i hope someday you'll join us "and the world be as one." Lennon was born Oct. 9, 1940. He was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. Ono was a painter when Lennon met her. She later joined him in music and in public demonstrations for peace. "I think that for somebody like me, because I feel that I'm an artist and a creative artist, that it is a very strange turn of events that I'm known as a widow," she said. "But it is stranger to me that I'm not that disturbed by it. I think that John promoted my work a lot in his lifetime and somehow it seems like it is a pleasure for me to sort of still work in a context of a partnership with him. ... I think it is my turn to promote him. He promoted me." When Albert Goldman's "The Lives of John Lennon" was published in September, depicting the former Beatle as riddled with vices, faults and neuroses, Ono called it "totally fiction." Since then she's received a tremendous amount of support from friends and fans. "I was very touched and thankful that people sent letters to me and extended hands at this time, very warmly. I really appreciate that. I was also surprised that so many people stood up against it (the Goldman book). I didn't expect that," Ono said. Lennon's half sister, Julia Baird, also has written a new book, "John Lennon, My Brother." She has no idea how many books have been written about Lennon; she's been sent some of them but hasn't read them. "I know the life and it is too painful to read somebody else's version." There's still enough footage, Ono said, for another movie _ perhaps a music or political or art film. And there's another big John Lennon project on her horizon. "It's from unpublished songs which were written for a Broadway musical. I don't know if it would have gotten to Broadway. You aim for the stars, you know. The songs might be strung together. They might become a record, might eventually become a musical. There are enough finished songs. They were never recorded in the studio. They're on cassettes." Their son Sean, 13, like his older half-brother, Julian, has become interested in music and started playing guitar. "I had reservations about Sean going into the music field. I still do. But I kind of gave up on it," Ono said. "He is into guitar now. A session musician, a very good one, was teaching him. According to this teacher, it seems like he is very good. He is just totally involved in it, listening to Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, his dad's songs _ only for guitar playing, I think. "He is into it so much, good luck to him." 
 Emperor Hirohito's blood pressure and pulse dropped sharply Thursday, but the vital signs later returned to normal as the ailing monarch's internal bleeding continued. Hirohito, 87, discharged more blood and was given emergency transfusions, but was resting peacefully by nightfall, an imperial palace spokesman said. Hirohito's blood pressure fell from 132 over 60 in the afternoon to 112 over 50 by evening, and his pulse from 104 per minute in the morning to 84 in the evening, said Kenji Maeda, chief of the Imperial Household Agency's General Affairs Division. "The emperor's blood pressure has returned to what is normal for him, and the head court physician says he is not worried," Maeda said. One of Hirohito's daughters, Atsuko Ikeda, said Wednesday the emperor had coughed severely during her visit to him and had hardly responded to her. On Thursday morning, Hirohito's two sons, Crown Prince Akihito and Prince Hitachi, visited him, and he was fully conscious and alert, a senior palace source said. The monarch has been bedridden for a month with an intestinal hemorrhage. There was renewed bleeding Thursday and the pace of the discharges was quickening, Maeda said. Hirohito has received nearly 22{ pints of blood since his illness worsened Sept. 19, and the transfusions had put a strain on Hirohito's heart and kidneys, Maeda said without elaborating. The only solid food Hirohito has eaten since falling ill are a few spoonfuls of porridge. Otherwise he is being fed intravenously, which gives him 600-700 calories a day, said the senior palace official, who refused to be identified. Before his illness, Hirohito was taking about 1,300 calories daily, the official said. The emperor complains of fatigue but does not appear to be in pain, he said. Crown Princess Michiko, Hirohito's daughter-in-law, scaled down celebrations for her 54th birthday Thursday, canceling a traditional birthday news conference, another palace official said. She planned a quiet gathering with members of the imperial family, the official said. 
 Australian novelist Peter Carey was awarded the coveted Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday night for his love story, "Oscar and Lucinda." A panel of five judges unanimously announced the award of the $26,250 prize after an 80-minute deliberation during a banquet at London's ancient Guildhall. The judges made their selection from 102 books published in Britain in the past 12 months and which they read in their homes. Carey, who lives in Sydney with his wife and son, said in a brief speech that like the other five finalists he had been asked to attend with a short speech in his pocket in case he won. "If I'd known I was going to win I think I would have taken a bit more trouble with my handwriting," he said as he stared down at his notes. He was unsuccessful in the prize competition in 1985 when his novel, "Illywhacker," was among the final six. Carey called the award a "great honor" and he thanked the prize sponsors for "provoking so much passionate discussion about literature _ perhaps there will be more tomorrow." "Everyone who loves good books benefits from this, surely," he added. The winning novel is a fitting choice for Australia's bicentennial year. It tells of a romance between an English gambler and an Australian heiress who meet on a steamship's maiden voyage to Australia in the mid-19th century. The story weaves in Australian history from its founding in 1788 by British immigrants. Panel chairman Michael Foot, a writer and former leader of the opposition Labor Party, said the judges agreed that entries this year had been "exceptionally strong" and that choosing the last six novels was extremely difficult. "We hope there will be no criticisms but if there are, then people should start reading the books for themselves," Foot said. Carey was the only non-Briton in the final six. The son of an auto dealer, he was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and attended Geelong Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne, where the Prince of Wales was also a pupil as an 18-year-old in 1966. Carey was an advertising copywriter before turning to writing books in 1965. The first Booker Prize was awarded in 1969. It is administered by Book Trust, an educational charity promoting books, and is sponsored by Booker, an international food and farming business. 
 More than 100 people were feared drowned after an overcrowded ferry sank at a river junction in southern Bangladesh, police said today. Fifteen bodies were recovered and 94 people were reported missing in the sinking Wednesday night where the Ilisha and Tetulia rivers meet and join the Meghna, police and a district administrator said. Another ferry was attacked by river pirates near Chandpur late Tuesday, police said. Six passengers, including a pregnant woman, were thrown overboard and have not been found, Chandpur police said. About 200 passengers were wounded when the pirates fired rifles and hurled homemade bombs before making off with about $83,000 in local currency, police said. The ferry that sank was carrying more than double its authorized capacity of 100 passengers, police said. They said about 100 people on the ferry's roof swam to safety but most of those in the hull were unable to save themselves. The ferry was traveling from Mehendiganj to the island town of Bhola, about 68 miles southeast of Dhaka, when it sank in 22 feet of water. Police said six bodies were found in the hull of the ferry, the M.L. Sonali, and nine others were found more than a mile downstream. Two independent newspapers in Dhaka, Ittefaq and Sangbad, quoted survivors as saying the ferry went out of control while trying to negotiate a turn. The pirate attack on the second ferry, the M.V. Sagar, also occurred on the Meghna River. The Sagar was en route from Dhaka to Barisal when about 50 pirates launched their attack near Chandpur, 34 miles southeast of Dhaka. The pirates, who had boarded the ferry as passengers, opened fire and exploded bombs shortly before midnight Tuesday as people were bedding down for the night, Chandpur police said. The attackers escaped in waiting boats, the police added. They said 44 of the injured passengers were hospitalized, including four in critical condition. 
 Television watchers of the 19th annual New York City Marathon followed the step-by-step progress Sunday of the leaders, but many spectators on the course scanned the thousands of runners for a familar face. The winner in the field of 23,478 _ largest ever for a marathon _ was Steve Jones of Wales, who finished in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 20 seconds, only seven seconds off the course record. Grete Waitz of Norway won the women's division for a record ninth time in 2:28:07. Marybeth Torpe was hoping another runner would run fast _ her boyfriend Tony Giannelli. She and several others had staked out the corner table at a restaurant on First Avenue to get a good view of the runners as they romped off the Queensboro Bridge. Their hopes on seeing Giannelli depended on how fast the Yonkers native ran. "We have to leave this table by 12:30. The manager's kicking us out," said one of Giannelli's friends, Pete Koogan. Torpe was eager for Giannelli to finish, too. "I'm going to ask him to marry me today," she said, holding up the rose she planned to give him. Crowds cheered for the those in the lead packs and the also-rans on the warm, sunny autumn day. Lynne Avery, a sophomore at Morristown (N.J.) High School, waited on First Avenue near 60th Street hoping to catch a glimpse of her English teacher, Robert Paciorkowski. But she was not taking any chances on missing him. "Mr. Paciorkowski told us if he saw a television camera, he'd wave to us," Avery said _ as she held a small portable television in her hand. All along the marathon route, volunteers handed drinks to runners, but Rick Fairlamb of Glen Rock, N.J., had prepared a special elixir of carrot juice. He handed them out to the 50 or so runners in the "Natural Living" running club who passed his table at 61st Street and First Avenue. "Last night I went into Brooklyn and got 500 pounds of carrots from a food co-op. We juiced them starting at 5 this morning," he said. In Central Park, Richard Borrego stood on the railing with a bullhorn, waiting for his favorites in the race to pass. He didn't have any trouble finding them. "I'm cheering for Grete and Steve Jones," Mr. Borrego said, referring to the winners. "They're both so courteous, full of good sportsmanship. They always help other runners. They never knock other runners," Borrego said. "And that's the way it should be." In Washington, D.C., more than 13,000 people from 23 countries and 49 states ran the Marine Corps Marathon, which offers no prize money and prides itself on being the "people's race." Jim Hage, a lawyer from Lanham, Md., who had never won a major marathon, pulled away from two-time champion Brad Ingram in the last half mile to win in 2:21:58. 
 The visit by human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov to the United States has gone virtually unreported by state media, with a radio broadcast saying only he had voiced opposition to the U.S. "Star Wars" program. That report from Radio Moscow, carried on its international-service news programs Tuesday, apparently was the only mention made by Soviet media of Sakharov's visit to the United States, which began Sunday. Radio Moscow said Sakharov made the comments about the Reagan administration's space-based anti-missile program at a Boston news conference. Sakharov, winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, is scheduled to spend two weeks visiting relatives in the United States, undergoing medical tests and promoting a new international organization he belongs to. A celebrity in the West since he helped form the Soviet dissident movement of the 1970s, Sakharov spent nearly seven years in internal exile after criticizing the Kremlin's military drive into Afghanistan. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev allowed him to return to Moscow in December 1986. Some statements and articles by Sakharov have been printed in the Soviet media since then, including an article last week in a magazine that opposed some elements of Gorbachev's blueprint for political and electoral reforms. Other activities by Sakharov have gone unreported here, including his delivery to Gorbachev of a list of 200 Soviets reportedly held in prison, labor camp or psychiatric hopsitals because of their political views. The official Tass news agency reported Wednesday that the organization Sakharov belongs to _ the International Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity _ held its first session in Boston the previous day. Tass made no mention of Sakharov in its three-paragragh report, but said the Soviet delegation to the meeting was headed by Yevgeny Velikhov, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. 
 Andrei D. Sakharov, the father of the Soviet dissident movement, finally received a 1973 human rights award Thursday night during his first trip to New York City. Sakharov received the Human Rights Award from the International League for Human Rights at a reception at the home of Ronald Lauder, the former U.S. ambassador to Austria. The 67-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner is on his first trip to the West, less than two years after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev freed him from internal exile in the city of Gorky. The human rights activist was banished in 1980 to the closed city for opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. About 200 guests, including author Elie Wiesel, Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, designer Caroline Roehm and ABC television's Barbara Walters, attended the reception. The ceremony was closed to the media. Sakharov, wearing a blue beret and plaid scarf, made no statement as he left the reception and entered a waiting limousine. Sakharov is the honorary president of the league, which has its headquarters in the United States and more than 40 affiliate groups around the world, including the Moscow Human Rights Committee, which Sakharov and his colleagues founded in 1971. Sakharov arrived in the United States on Sunday to visit relatives and receive medical treatment before going to Washington for a White House visit and a board meeting of the International Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity, of which he is a director. 
 A representative of the African National Congress said Saturday the South African government may release black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela as early as Tuesday. "There are very strong rumors in South Africa today that on Nov. 15 Nelson Mandela will be released," said Yusef Saloojee, chief representative in Canada for the ANC, which is fighting to end white-minority rule in South Africa. Mandela the 70-year-old leader of the ANC jailed 27 years ago, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to overthrow the South African government. He was transferred from prison to a hospital in August for treatment of tuberculosis. Since then, it has been widely rumored Mandela will be released by Christmas in a move to win strong international support for the South African government. "It will be a victory for the people of South Africa and indeed a victory for the whole of Africa," Saloojee told an audience at the University of Toronto. A South African government source last week indicated recent rumors of Mandela's impending release were orchestrated by members of the anti-apartheid movement to pressure the government into taking some action. And a prominent anti-apatheid activist in South Africa said there has been "no indication (Mandela) would be released today or in the near future." Apartheid is South Africa's policy of racial separation. 
 Dan Quayle is likely to be a "man on the outside" in George Bush's White House following a vice presidential candidacy that began in a furor but settled into obscurity, experts say. Encumbered by his image as a political novice who needed a bevy of professional handlers to survive early campaign controversies, Quayle enters a Bush administration in which he has few intimates or allies. Relegated in the campaign to small towns and safe GOP areas, Quayle as vice president is likely to be given a traditional ceremonial role _ going to political gatherings and state funerals _ rather than the advisory role that Walter Mondale and even Bush had, some scholars feel. "Dan Quayle is going to set the vice presidency back about a decade or more. One thing that political scientists have been talking about is just how much the vice presidency has grown. ... With Quayle, it's just going to retreat to the old days of politics and funerals," said Ryan Barilleaux, a professor of political science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, who studies the American presidency. Bush rarely mentioned his 41-year-old running mate during the campaign. When asked, Bush employed the stock lines that Quayle would "make an outstanding vice president" and had been "tempered by steel" as he weathered the early furor over his military service, academic record and personal life. The president-elect told reporters Quayle would have access to the same papers, information and intelligence that is available to the president. But he would go no further in describing what assignments he would give Quayle. Quayle says Bush has talked to him about heading a space council, and that he assumes he'll have a role in the administration's anti-drug efforts. "I will be a very close adviser to the president," Quayle said. But that's not the way everyone sees it. Both Bush and Mondale came to their vice presidential campaigns with substantial reputations and were able to place key staffers in important positions in the respective presidential campaigns, Barilleaux notes. "Dan Quayle has contributed nothing in the way of staff to the Bush campaign. He doesn't have his own big reputation on Capitol Hill. ... Dan Quayle has no friends in a Bush White House except George Bush," Barilleaux says. "They're going to give him a lot of window dressing, a space council, drug task force, but he's going to be a man on the outside ... not a man who's going to be consulted in a crisis, except on a pro forma basis." But Eddie Mahe Jr., a GOP consultant who worked with the Bush campaign, says Bush is likely to give Quayle a more active role in the administration than he had in the campaign. "Vindication demands that. Both of them will want to prove how right the decision was," Mahe says. Democrats portrayed Quayle during the campaign as a lightweight, a man with little or no legislative accomplishments, untested and unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Even some members of Quayle's own party were dismayed at Bush's choice. Quayle didn't help his case by making a number of celebrated gaffes during the campaign, perhaps the worst being his garbled explanation of the Holocaust and his declaration, "I didn't live in this century." Norman Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute, says Quayle, while "not the world's leading intellectual," is not "a complete dummy." He was simply thrust into a situation for which he was unprepared, Ornstein says. "I think he's immature. He's not stupid," Ornstein says. But Quayle comes to the White House with "a very damaging stereotype that's developed about him that's widely believed in the political community and that's believed by a large segment of the electorate," Ornstein says. "That's going to give him a good deal to overcome. It's going to give him an enormous impetus to prove himself. That's going to be difficult, given the office." Both Barilleaux and Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution see parallels in Quayle's vice presidency and those of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. The choice of Nixon was viewed as a move by Dwight Eisenhower to appease the party's right wing, and Agnew was seen as a political nonentity. "The natural response is to use him (Quayle) sparingly, as Nixon did with Agnew in 1968," Hess says. "However, Quayle has four years to prove himself, and I think you're going to see stories in two years about how much he's learned, how much he's acted responsibly, how far he's come from the campaign of 1988." Quayle admits the campaign was a learning process. After the controversies subsided, Quayle declared his independence from his Bush handlers, saying he would be his own man. He became more accessible to the media but continued to adhere to the schedule handed down from Washington and to deliver the party's scripted message. Soon, he dropped off the front pages. And although he occasionally spoke out in frustration at having little control over his schedule and at ceasing to make national news, he played the role of loyal No. 2 and even trumpeted his new anonymity. "We have arrived as being a traditional vice presidential nominee because we are either on the back pages or either not on the pages at all. That's what we're supposed to be," he told reporters. That willingness to be a team player could serve him well in a Bush White House, Mahe feels, since Bush wants "a private adviser, whose experience and opinion he respected ... (who) has never had another agenda." "Dan Quayle owes his political life to one man and one man alone," Mahe says. "You're never going to see Dan Quayle telling tales out of school." 
 Leonard Bernstein, whose 70th birthday in August was marked with a gala at Tanglewood, returned to Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic 45 years after he made his triumphant conducting debut there with the orchestra. And of course, Monday night's program consisted of three Bernstein compositions that were played shimmeringly well. As well it should: It was the 1,215th time Bernstein conducted the orchestra. On Nov. 14, 1943, Bernstein, the Philharmonic's then-assistant conductor, filled for an ailing Bruno Walter on such short notice there was no rehearsal. The concert was broadcast nationally on radio. And there was such acclaim that Bernstein, who had never led the orchestra in concert until that day, was catapulted to fame, at age 25. At intermission, Mrs. Artur Rodzinski, whose late husband was the Philharmonic music's director in 1943 and hired Bernstein as his assistant, was introduced from a box. Violinist Jacques Margolies, who played in the Philharmonic that Sunday, is still a member and was playing on Monday night. Eight others who also were members in 1943 _ violinist Louis Fishzohn, oboist Albert Goltzer, timpanist Saul Goodman, bassist Homer Mensch, cellist Martin Ormandy, assistant concertmaster Michael Rosenker, and trumpeters James Smith and William Vacchiano _ went on stage. Bernstein gave bear hugs to all nine. "I feel older than all of them," said Bernstein. Bernstein was given a silver box engraved with a reproduction of Monday evening's program cover _ a caricature of him, with jutting chin, bright eye, flowing hair and baton, and reading "with love and thanks of the Philharmonic family to Lennie." "Will this birthday never end?," he told the audience. Monday's concert began with Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," with the splendid Westminster Symphonic Choir. Todd Caruso, a member of the American Boychoir whose voice is high, pure and moving, sang the solo part. Violinist Gidon Kremer, a native of the Latvian town of Riga in the Soviet Union, was soloist in "Serenade for Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion." Kremer's sound isn't warm but his technique is breathtaking. Pianist Krystian Zimerman, who was born in Zabrze, Poland, often performs with Bernstein in Europe. He was the respectful and thoroughly engaged soloist in the final work on the program, Bernstein's "Symphony No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra," subtitled "The Age of Anxiety" after W.H. Auden's poem. All the performers donated their services, with proceeds benefiting the Philharmonic's efforts on behalf of American conductors. 
 The expensive practice of using balloon catheters to force open heart arteries immediately after heart attacks, now routinely done at many large hospitals, is unnecessary and should be abandoned, according to a major study released Tuesday. The study found that if heart attack victims quickly receive clot-dissolving drugs, they usually don't need the extra step of the common balloon procedure, known as angioplasty. Some experts said the results are good news, because they mean that most heart attack patients can be treated in community hospitals, where angioplasty is not available. The study also has an important financial message. Its authors estimated that if angioplasty was widely adopted after heart attacks, it could raise the nation's annual medical bills by $704 million. "This trial has settled one of the most important questions in modern-day cardiology," commented Dr. J. Ward Kennedy of the University of Washington, Seattle. The study is phase 2 of the Thrombolysis in Miocardial Infarction Trial, or TIMI-II, directed by Dr. Eugene Braunwald of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The first phase of the study showed that giving people a clot-dissolving drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA, immediately after heart attacks dramatically improved their chances of survival. The latest study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, was intended to see whether people did better still if doctors tried to clear away any remaining blockages after giving TPA. At 50 hospitals across the United States, doctors randomly assigned 1,636 patients to get angioplasty within two days of their heart attacks if tests showed there was any chance they might benefit. Sixty percent of them actually underwent the procedure, which temporarily inflates balloons in dangerously narrowed heart arteries to squeeze them open. A comparison group of 1,626 also got TPA. But they were not considered for angioplasty unless they had lingering heart pain or abnormal exercise tests during their recovery. After 42 days, 11 percent of those in the angioplasty group had died or suffered further heart attacks, as did 10 percent of those in the comparison group. A year after the treatment, there was no difference in survival. About 93 percent of both groups were still alive. "There does not appear to be any additional benefit from angioplasty," Braunwald said. Dr. Thomas J. Ryan of Boston University Medical Center commented, "We have the answer in this trial to a very important question of health care delivery." While small hospitals can give clot-dissolving drugs to heart attack patients, most of them do not have the sophisticated labs where angioplasty is performed. If the study had found that immediate angioplasty improves survival, it would have meant that many more angioplasty labs would need to be established and more doctors trained to give the procedure. "The watch word is watchful waiting" to see if patients need angioplasty. "This ultimately makes it possible for patients to be treated in community hospitals and be transfered to terciary care centers if angioplasty is needed," said Dr. Howard Morgan, immediate past president of the heart association. Heart attacks occur when a clot blocks an artery that feeds the heart muscle. The purpose of TPA and similar drugs is to dissolve these clots before the muscle dies. To be effective, the drugs must be given within about four hours of the start of heart attack symptoms. Experts say that only about 20 percent of heart attack victims are considered to be candidates for the drugs. Many people delay going to the hospital until permanent damage occurs. In others, the treatment may be considered too dangerous because of recent surgery or a history of strokes. Balloon angioplasty is also widely used to treat people with clogged heart arteries who have not suffered heart attacks. The latest study did not question the usefulness of this kind of angioplasty. 
 Emperor Hirohito has lost nearly 40 pounds in the two months since he fell ill and now weighs only 66 pounds, a palace official was quoted as saying Friday. The 87-year-old emperor's condition weakened Friday, but doctors speculated that a scab had stopped internal bleeding in his upper intestinal area, said Imperial Household Agency spokesman Kenji Maeda. Hirohito has suffered repeated bouts of bleeding but has not discharged blood in nine days. The emperor responds to queries from aides but is "less talkative than before," Maeda told reporters. He added that doctors sometimes have trouble determining whether Hirohito is awake. News reports quoted Maeda as saying Hirohito has shed much of his normal 104 pounds during his confinement and now weighs about 66 pounds. Hirohito had a temperature of 99.1 degrees Friday evening, up slightly from the morning. His normal temperature is about 95.9 degrees. Doctors have said he suffers from jaundice and anemia. Maeda said the emperor's heart and kidneys were functioning normally. Since Sept. 19, when he was confined to intensive care after vomiting blood, Hirohito has received 42 pints of blood in transfusions. Palace officials have not given details on Hirohito's illness, and they would not comment on Japanese news reports that the emperor has pancreatic cancer. 
 An overloaded ferry taking schoolchildren on a field trip capsized and sank in southern China, killing 55 people and leaving seven missing, the China News Service said in a dispatch seen Sunday. The 183 passengers and four crew members "enormously exceeded" the ferry's capacity and the ship capsized Wednesday before it had sailed 200 yards, the report said. It did not say how many people the boat was designed to hold. It said that by Friday, 125 survivors had been rescued, 55 bodies were found and seven people were missing. The accident occurred off Hainan island, the report said. The news service said the passengers were 183 students and teachers from a high school and primary school in Qiongzhong County, who were going to take the ferry to visit a hydroelectric power station. On September 22, another overloaded ferry sank in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region bordering Vietnam, leaving 61 people dead and one missing. The Ministry of Communications, which is responsible for inland water navigation, announced in August it had begun an investigation into the safety of China's river vessels to determine if standards should be tightened. The move followed the July 21 capsizing of a ferry on the Min River in Southwestern Sichuan province in which 133 people died, and the July 25 sinking of a passenger boat on the Yangtze River in which 71 people drowned. 
 A passenger ferry sank off the Caribbean coast while being towed to port, and 59 people drowned and six are missing, authorities and news reports said today. Capt. Anibal Giron Arreola, a spokesman at the Puerto Barrios naval base, said the ferry Justo Rufino Barrios II sank Sunday afternoon in Amatique Bay. He said by telephone that 59 people died. Juan Jose Gaytan, a reporter at Radio Portena in Puerto Barrios, said the Justo Rufineo Barrios II ran out of fuel midway on a regular 16-mile run from the town Livingston, across the bay, to Puerto Barrios. Gaytan said the boat sank while it was being towed by a tugboat. The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City confirmed the sinking and said a 40-year-old Spanish citizen, Vicente Daudi, was among the dead. The embassy reported his wife, Rosa Maria Arnal, and a son survived the shipwreck, but two daughters were missing. Daudi was working with a Spanish technical aid and economic development mission in Guatemala, the embassy said. An official at the Puerto Barrios morgue said 13 bodies have been identified. Besides Daudi, the nationalities of the victims were not immediately known. Gaytan said navy patrol boats, fishing vessels and private craft have been searching the bay for survivors and recovering bodies. He said he had no other details on the shipwreck. Puerto Barrios, 187 miles northeast of the capital, is Guatemala's principal east coast port. 
 Authorities charged a 22-year-old ferry captain with negligent homicide after the boat, overcrowded with New Year's travelers, sank off the Caribbean coast. Sixty-seven people drowned and 14 were missing. Officials said 46 people survived the sinking of the ferry Justo Rufino Barrios II in Amatique Bay on Guatemala's east coast Sunday. Juan Pablo Ezquibel was arrested after authorities determined that about 120 people were aboard the 30-ton ferry, which was authorized to carry 90, said Capt. Anibal Giron Arreola, second-in-command at the Puerto Barrios naval base. He said by telephone that the ferry ran out of fuel midway on a 16-mile run across the bay from Livingston to Puerto Barrios and sank after a naval patrol boat tried to tow it to port. Officials had yet to determine the exact cause of the sinking, but Giron Arreola said the ferry captain was slow to respond to requests by the skipper of the naval patrol boat to take control of the ferry's wheel once it was under tow. He said the patrol boat captain believed the ferry's rudder was unmanned while under tow. Esquibel radioed that he had taken the wheel just as the boat began to capsize, Giron Arreola said. Giron Arreola also said that passengers ran to one side of the ferry while it was under tow just before the ferry sank. "It appears the boat rode a wave and that as it was leaning the people ran to one side out of fear," he said. Although seas were only 1-to-1{ feet, passengers were not used to traveling by sea, he said. No Americans were on board, he said. A morgue official said 13 bodies were identified. Navy patrol boats, fishing vessels and other private craft searched for the missing Monday. Puerto Barrios, 187 miles northeast of Guatemala City, the capital, is Guatemala's main east coast port. There are no roads to Livingston and most travel along the coast is by boat. The Rufino Barrios Maritime Transport firm owns the ferry and operates two other ferries along the Livingston-Puerto Barrios route. 
 Retired Sen. John Tower, the defense secretary-designate, underwent surgery Thursday to remove a colon polyp, a hospital spokesman said. "Senator Tower is resting comfortably and is listed in fair condition," hospital spokesman Steve Habgood said Thursday night. "The senator is expected to make a full recovery." Tower, 63, a U.S. senator from Texas for 24 years, was admitted to Baylor University Medical Center on Wednesday after undergoing a colonscopy examination last week that revealed the polyp, Habgood said. A preliminary biopsy of the polyp showed it was benign, Habgood said, but further results would be announced Friday by Tower's surgeon, Dr. R.D. Dignan, of Dallas. Thursday's surgery took approximately three hours, Habgood said. When Tower underwent the colonscopy examination, a rectal polyp also was discovered and removed. Tests of that growth showed it to contain some "malignant but well differentiated cells," Habgood said. Further explanation of the first polyp removal would have to come from Tower's surgeon, who was unavailable for comment Thursday night, the spokesman said. After leaving the Senate in 1985, Tower went into business as a defense consultant. He also served as an arms negotiator for President Reagan and he headed the White House's Iran-Contra investigative panel. President-elect Bush designated Tower as his defense secretary on Dec. 16. The nomination is subject to Senate approval. 
 TOKYO (AP _ Emperor Hirohito will be remembered for one overwhelming decision during his 62-year reign: Japan must bow to defeat for the first time in its history and end the Pacific conflict in World War II. Shortly after that decision, and for most of his reign, Hirohito became a figurehead, isolated from his subjects by tradition and steeped in his great love, the study of marine biology. He was the last survivor among the national leaders of the World War II era. But in his first 20 years, the "Son of Heaven" was worshiped as a divinity descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. The solitude of animal and plant life under the seas which so intrigued Hirohito was in keeping with the character of the man who became the 124th occupant of the Chrysanthemum Throne at the age of 25 on Christmas Day 1926, designating his reign "Showa" _ "enlightened peace." The emperor was generally portrayed as having played no significant role in planning or carrying out Japan's military adventures in the 1930s and 1940s. But it was his first effective decision as emperor, and his most courageous, that ended the Pacific conflict. On Aug. 10, 1945, four days after history's first atomic bomb devastated Hiroshima and one day after a U.S. bomber dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, the generals and admirals of Imperial Japan's wartime government argued for hours in the sweltering bombproof shelter beneath the Tokyo palace. Should Japan agree to the Allies' surrender demand, or fight on until annihilation? Speaking in what some of those present described as a slow and obviously nervous monotone, Hirohito, the spiritual and titular leader, offered his opinion for the first time. He spoke of his sorrow over the soldiers and sailors killed in the long war, and of families who lost everything in air raids. "I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer," he said. "Ending the war is the only way to restore world peace and to relieve the nation from the terrible distress with which it is burdened." Then, evoking a memory of his grandfather, the Emperor Meiji, whose reign (1867-1912) saw the end of 250 years of feudal Japanese isolation from the outside world, Hirohito told the officers: "The time has come when we must bear the unbearable." In the days that followed, Hirohito continued his break with tradition. In a national radio broadcast Aug. 15 _ the first time ordinary Japanese ever actually heard his voice _ he personally announced the decision to surrender. He told the ravaged nation that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage." Three weeks later, Hirohito donned a silk cutaway coat, striped trousers and a top hat to meet the Allied commander, Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. It was the first time Hirohito had ever gone to see anyone, and the first of several calls on the general who had led the Pacific war against Japan and became its postwar governor. On New Year's Day 1946, at MacArthur's insistence, the emperor publicly renounced his divinity. It was a choice that enabled Hirohito to remain as the symbolic head of his nation and assured that he would not face charges as a war criminal, as some abroad had demanded. It also was an act that seemed to relieve no one as much as this gentle, shy and retiring man who never seemed very comfortable as a "living god." The emperor's status in the eyes of many Japanese changed to that of a kind uncle. He became a widely respected authority on marine biology. He possessed rare collections of marine life, discovered several species himself and wrote or co-authored at least 12 books on hydrozoa, or sea animals, his specialty. In recent years, his life had become the subject of a popular comic book series. Still, Hirohito and the imperial system remained important to Japan. A nationwide survey by the daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun in March 1987 indicated more than 80 percent of 2,184 people polled supported the imperial system, while only 11 percent said it should be abolished. Five percent said the emperor should have more power. From 1946 to 1954, Hirohito toured Japan to encourage the people to rebuild. The Imperial Household Agency, which ran his affairs, said Hirohito considered the postwar period one of the most fulfilling times of his life, in which the nation made a phenomenal recovery from a war that cost 3.1 million Japanese lives. Despite the humanization of the Imperial family, Hirohito remained under strict control of the Imperial Household Agency. Protocol was maintained at nearly all times and he was prohibited from speaking on any controversial subject. Hirohito was born on April 29, 1901. In accordance with age-old imperial custom, he was taken from his parents as an infant to be reared in isolation by household functionaries and trained for one role, that of emperor. His education came as Japan surged into the modern world. The feudal samurai ethic was still strong; when his grandfather died, Gen. Maresuke Nogi, the mentor for the 11-year-old prince, calmly committed ritual suicide to follow the emperor, his master, to the grave. Hirohito studied government and law with private tutors. When he was 20, his father, Emperor Taisho, sent him abroad _ the first time any member of the immediate imperial family was allowed outside Japan. Hirohito visited England, Scotland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, receiving various decorations. He was also received by Pope Benedict XV. The young man handled money for the first time, paying his own fare on the Paris subway. He developed a passion for bacon and eggs and it became a lifelong breakfast habit. A palace chamberlain said in a 1980 interview that Hirohito shunned Japanese food "unless it is forced on him by an unwitting host." Hirohito also acquired a preference for Western clothes. He was never seen in public wearing traditional Japanese garb, and a palace official confided that the Emperor of Japan did not even own a kimono. Hirohito became prince regent on Nov. 25, 1921, after his father became a mental and physical invalid, became emperor five years later and was formally enthroned in 1928. 
 World leaders from President Reagan to Malaysia's king mourned today's death of Emperor Hirohito, who surrendered a broken nation to the Allies in World War II but presided over its rise to economic pre-eminence. Reaction to Hirohito's death at age 87, however, was decidedly cool in several Asian countries, including South Korea, which endured years of harsh colonial rule by Japan. While South Korea President Roh Tae-Woo sent his condolences, a government party statement added, "We reserve further comment, considering the unhappy past and the current Korea-Japan relationship." The main opposition party led by Kim Dae-jung said, "We have complex feelings at the death of Hirohito in view of Japan's 20-year rule over Korea during his reign." A leading newspaper in Seoul, The Joong-Ang Daily News, wrote that Hirohito's death "reminds all the Korean people of a disgraced period and ... humiliation. ... Hirohito is the symbolic figure who must assume most and final responsibility for (Japan's) preposterous crimes to the Korean people." Korea was divided into the communist north and the capitalist south in 1945, when U.S. and Soviet troops ended Japan's rule that began in 1910 with Japan's forced annexation of the peninsula. There was no official comment from the nationalist Chinese government because of the lack of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Japan, but the mass circulation Chinese daily United Evening News said: "Asian people who suffered from the slavery and invasion of Japan's militarists during World War II may bury their animosity with Hirohito's death. ... Chinese suffered the most from the Japanese invasion. "It was an irony that while Hirohito apologized to the United States and Europe for the war, he did not direct a single word to China to show his sorrow.Now, Hirohito has died. We may not want to collect the reparations, but we shall never forget the painful historic lessions." In the United States, President Reagan said in a statement, "His Majesty's 62-year reign spanned one of the most tumultuous, and yet at the same time constructive eras in the history of mankind _ an age of unprecedented economic collapse, a most vicious war, astonishing scientific acheivement, and dramatic political and social changes throughout the world. "It was also an era of unprecedented reconciliation. His Majesty played a truly heroic role in bringing hostilities between our two peoples to an end," Reagan said, referring to Hirohito's decision to end World War II. In New Zealand, Prime Minister David Lange said Hirohito's death marks the end of an era. "During his reign he saw the transition from the most turbulent period in Japan's modern history to the stability and prosperity of today," Lange said. President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines sent condolences to the imperial family and her foreign secretary, Raul Manglapus, a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II, praised Hirohito as "a stabilizing factor" in the creation of a democratic Japan. "He provided a figurehead that kept the Japanese people firmly committed to peaceful means of achieving their national goals," Manglapus said. Condolences also came from King Sultan Mahmood Iskandar of Malaysia to Hirohito's oldest son, Crown Prince Akihito, who immediately ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne. Prime Minister Bob Hawke of Australia paid his respects in a message to Japanese Prime Minister Noburu Takeshita: "Throughout his long life, the emperor was held in the highest esteem by his people. Now, as Japan enters a period of mourning and prepares for a new age, our thoughts are with you." But Bruce Ruxton, an official of the Returned Services League, which representing almost 300,000 Australian war veterans, said there would not "be too many tears shed around the world." He described Hirohito, whose role in the war has been debated, as "one of the worst war criminals." Marine biologists paid homage to another facet of the monarch's life _ his 12 books published on hydrozoa, or sea animals. Robert Hessler of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., said Hirohito preferred the quiet study to his destined role as leader. "The poor man didn't really get to do what he wanted to do. He had to be emperor first, then second a scientist and normal human being," Hessler said. 
 World leaders sent Japan messages of condolences and some declared states of mourning after Emperor Hirohito's death Saturday, but painful memories of World War II still generated criticism of the Japanese monarch. President Reagan said Hirohito's 62-year reign "spanned one of the most tumultuous, and yet at the same time constructive eras in the history of mankind. "It was also an era of unprecedented reconciliation. His Majesty played a truly heroic role in bringing hostilities between our two peoples to an end," Reagan said, referring to Hirohito's decision to end World War II. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union sent his "sincere condolences" and "profound sympathy" to the Japanese people. His two-sentence telegram made no mention of wartime hostilities with what still is known officially as "militarist Japan." The Kremlin currently is striving for better ties and increased trade with Japan. India declared a three-day national state of mourning in honor of Hirohito and Norway's King Olav V announced a three-week court mourning. President Francois Mitterrand of France opened an international conference on chemical weapons with a minute of silence. But some reaction to Hirohito's death was cool in South Korea, which endured years of harsh colonial rule by Japan. While President Roh Tae-woo of South Korea sent his condolences, a government party statement added, "We reserve further comment, considering the unhappy past and the current Korea-Japan relationship." China extended condolences and Taiwan said it will send a delegation to the funeral. But Taiwan's daily United Evening News said: "It was an irony that while Hirohito apologized to the United States and Europe for the war, he did not direct a single word to China to show his sorrow." Most historians believe Hirohito was a powerless figurehead but had approved orders that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and put most of East Asia under an often brutal Japanese rule. Hirohito called on his nation to surrender in 1945. The emperor's death drew mixed reaction in the Netherlands, which lost more than 20,000 people under Japan's wartime occupation of the former Dutch East Indies. The government said it sent its sympathy for "the loss that has befallen the Japanese people," without mentioning the name of Hirohito, branded a war criminal by survivors of the wartime occupation of the colony that became Indonesia in 1949. "To many war victims, only now has World War II finally come to an end," said Gen. Ruud Boekholt, chairman of the August 15 Commemoration Foundation, a group representing 127,000 Dutch citizens who underwent Japanese internment. "Daily, they still feel the pain of the wartime suffering that was inflicted on them in the name of Emperor Hirohito," Boekholt told The Associated Press. But Indonesian President Suharto cabled his condolences to Crown Prince Akihito, Hirohito's eldest son who immediately ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, and said he will personally pay the last homage to Hirohito, presidential spokesman Moerdiono said. Pope John Paul II expressed his condolences and sent telegrams to Hirohito's family, Vatican radio reported. Queen Elizabeth II said she was saddened and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she shares the Japanese people's sorrow. But opposition lawmakers said Britain should boycott his funeral. "No one should go to that funeral from this country," said Ron Brown, a lawmaker of the opposition Labor Party, who denounced Hirohito as "a war criminal of the worst kind." "It would be a grave insult to the many men and women ... imprisoned in slave camps," he said. "Many of them died, but those who survived still suffer today." King Juan Carlos of Spain, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf monarchs, King Birendra of Nepal and Sultan Mahmood Iskandar of Malaysia also sent condolences to Akihito. Brazil called Hirohito "a superior symbol of the Japanese nation, its culture and its anxieties in a period of drastic transformations in the world and his country and in a time of grave new challenges in the world." 
 U.S. prosecutors pressured Japan's wartime prime minister, Gen. Hideki Tojo, into changing testimony at his trial to avoid incriminating Emperor Hirohito in war crimes, a television documentary claims. The British Broadcasting Corp. documentary, details of which were released Wednesday by its maker Edward Behr, said the U.S. prosecutors worked with the emperor's aides to find a way to avoid putting Hirohito on trial. The documentary challenges Hirohito's image as a peaceful man forced to go along with his generals' plans and alleges among other things that he: _Must have known about the massacre of at least 20,000 Chinese at Nanking in 1937 because he received regular detailed reports from the China front. _Knew more than a month in advance of Japanese plans to attack the U.S. navy at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The BBC will show "Hirohito _ Behind the Myth" on Jan. 24. Behr is a Paris-based journalist. His biography of China's last monarch was used for the award-winning film "The Last Emperor." It has been reported previously that American prosecutors wanted to keep Hirohito out of the war crimes trial and asked Tojo to suggest the emperor had consented reluctantly to the war on the advice of the High Command. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S. forces occupying Japan, wrote in his book "Reminiscences" that he fended off pressure from Britain and the Soviet Union to indict Hirohito, arguing that would touch off a guerrilla war. Behr told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday that the documentary will be shown in the United States by PBS on March 13. The BBC has also sold it to Australia, Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Hirohito died Saturday at the age of 87. The documentary says the decision not to prosecute Hirohito came from President Harry S. Truman and that Tojo's evidence was altered so the emperor would not be incriminated. 
 Deaths from heart and blood vessel disease dropped 24 percent over the past decade, but it remains by far the nation's biggest killer, taking a life every 32 seconds, the American Heart Association said Sunday. "The good news is that we continue to see an improvement in the death rate from the biggest killer of our population," said Dr. Bernadine Healy of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, who is president of the heart association. "Those trends are dramatic and don't seem to be reversing," she said. "The bad news is that heart disease is still killing almost 1 million Americans a year, and we've got a long way to go." The association released the statistics at its annual forum for science writers. Experts attribute the decline in death rates to a combination of healthier living habits, including fewer cigarettes and better food, and improved medical treatment. "The public ought to appreciate the progress that has been made in heart disease over the past 20 years," said Dr. Myron L. Weisfeldt of Johns Hopkins University. "It's almost unbelievable. There is almost no form of heart disease that we can't approach without meaningful treatment." However, Weisfeldt, who is president-elect of the heart association, also cautioned that much work remains, both in improving care and encouraging people to take better care of their health. "I believe we can prevent at least 50 percent of the ischemic heart disease in the United States by the year 2000 if we stop smoking, get cholesterol treated if it's above 220, and identify and treat hypertension," he said. Ischemic heart disease is the clogging of blood vessels that feed the heart. It underlies most heart attacks, the single most lethal heart ailment. Association figures indicated that in 1986 _ the most recent year for which there are statistics _ an estimated 978,500 Americans died from heart attacks, strokes and other diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Cancer, the No. 2 killer, took 466,000 lives. Between 1976 and 1986, the death rate from all forms of cardiovascular disease fell 24 percent. It declined 28 percent for heart attacks and 40 percent for strokes. The association's figures show that more than one in four Americans suffers some form of cardiovascular disease, and almost half of those eventually die from it. About 60 percent of the heart attack deaths occur before the victim reaches the hospital. Studies show that about half of all heart attack victims wait more than two hours before getting to an emergency room. Weisfeldt said a major health goal is getting people to go to the hospital within three or four hours of the first sign of heart attacks. During this period, there is still time to give them drugs to dissolve the blood clots that are causing their heart attacks. This treatment can save lives and reduce the disability of heart attacks. Other major goals, he said, include finding ways to improve the effectiveness of angioplasty, a technique that uses balloons to open clogged heart arteries, and finding surgical and medical techniques to identify and protect people at risk of cardiac arrest. The heart association estimates that cardiovascular disease will cost $88.2 billion this year in medical expenses and lost wages. Among other statistics released by the association: _The most common cardiovascular disease is high blood pressure, which affects 60 million Americans. _About 200,000 of the deaths from cardiovascular disease each year occur in people under age 65. _There were 1,418 heart transplants in 1987, almost nine times as many as in 1983. _About 2.5 million Americans have angina, the chest pain resulting from clogged heart arteries. About 300,000 new cases occur annually. _As many as 1.5 million Americans will have heart attacks this year. 
 Within hours of the schoolyard shootings that left five children and the gunman dead and 30 wounded Tuesday, dozens of translators rushed to assist the many Southeast Asian parents who arrived at the hospital desperate for word of their youngsters. "I would imagine it is absolute panic. They are not sure what happened, not sure what's going on around them," said Laura Dixon, of the Charterhouse Center refugee program, in Stockton, describing the scene translators found when they arrived at San Joaquin County General Hospital. Many of the parents speak no English and were unable to ask whether their children were among those killed or wounded when a heavily armed gunman in combat fatigues invaded Cleveland Elementary School and opened fire before taking his own life. "They do have people on staff at the hospital, but they are so overloaded they need every extra person they can secure," said Dixon, whose organization began calling throughout Stockton for volunteers speaking Southeast Asian languages. About a dozen translators were sent to the county hospital, after officials there called for help. In recent years, thousands of Southeast Asians have settled in Stockton, drawn in part by the farming and fishing that flourish in the area. School officials said 60 percent of the children were Southeast Asian refugees _ either from Cambodia, Laos or Thailand. All five of the children killed were of this background, authorities said. A Stockton woman who runs an after-school program teaching English to Cambodian refugees dispatched 25 translators, including volunteers from all over the city, to the school and the hospital, Dixon said. The San Joaquin County Mental Health Department told Dixon a grief center might be established at Charterhouse to help survivors, whose recovery will be complicated by the language barrier. Charterhouse is funded by the Episcopal Church and private donations. 
 A man fired several dozen shots from an automatic rifle in an elementary school Tuesday, killing six children, wounding at least 35 other people and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said. "We have at least one suspect in custody who has a gunshot wound to the head," Deputy Police Chief Ralph Tribble said. Bruce Fernandez, spokesman for the county office of emergency services, said six people had died. Ellen Rich at St. Joseph's Medical Center said eight victims were being treated there, and said the total, including those being treated at other hospitals, was 35 wounded. "We have at least 30 people that we've sent out to area hospitals," said Police Chief Jack Calkins. The attack at Cleveland Elementary School came shortly before noon. Other children were kept in their rooms, said John Klose, Stockton Unified School District information officer. Police Sgt. James Monk said his office learned that a "man went berserk with an automatic weapon and we have several (people) down." "Several dozen shots were heard from an automatic rifle," said Monk. 
 The 26-year-old drifter with a long criminal record who launched a mute, murderous assault on a California elementary school Tuesday was described by his aunt as a loner and childhood alcoholic, police said. Patrick E. Purdy purchased an AK-47 rifle in this Portland suburb several months ago, then returned to his hometown of Stockton, Calif., where he used the gun to kill five children and wound 29 others, along with a teacher, at Cleveland Elementary School before taking his own life, authorities said. Purdy, who went by the alias of Patrick West, had lived with an aunt and uncle in Sandy from the first of July until late October, said Sandy Police Chief Fred Punzel. He later moved to Lodi, Calif., where he listed his mailing address under the name of his grandmother, Julia Chumbley, although he did not live with her, authorities said. "I'm shocked. It's just horrible. I don't understand why and I probably won't ever know why," said Ms. Chumbley, a 63-year-old retired cannery worker. "It troubles me to think that such a terrible thing can happen. It's like a nightmare. This sort of thing happens to others, not you. Your own grandson." Stockton is about 15 miles southwest of Lodi. Punzel said Purdy's aunt, Julie Michael, "told me he was a loner and as a child he was an alcoholic." Mrs. Michael said through a closed front door at her residence that she was too upset to talk to reporters. Her next-door neighbor, Pat Thomas, 45, said she met West when he lived with his relatives last summer. "He seemed like a real nice young man," she said. "He was here looking for work." However, Purdy had an "extensive criminal history," mostly in the Los Angeles area, said Lucian Neely, deputy police chief in Stockton, an agricultural city 60 miles east of San Francisco. Purdy had no criminal record in Sandy, Clackamas County or Portland, authorities said. Neely said Purdy originally was from Stockton and that he had purchased the gun at the Sandy Trading Post Aug. 3. Punzel said Mrs. Michael told him Purdy left Oregon for a job as a boilermaker in Texas. That job fell through and he went to Memphis, Tenn.. The aunt and uncle last heard from Purdy at Thanksgiving, when he was in Connecticut, Punzel said. His mother lives in Sacramento, Calif., and his father was killed in 1980 or 1981 when he was struck by a car as a pedestrian, Punzel said. State Division of Motor Vehicles records identify Purdy as 5-foot-11, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair, said spokesman Dave Davis. 
 Children whose families escaped the horrors of the Vietnam War saw their schoolyard turned into a killing field, the target of a silent gunman armed with a rifle and a pistol bearing the word "victory." After the massacre at recess, the bodies of three Southeast Asian children were outlined in blue on the playground of Cleveland Elementary School where they died. Two others had been dragged by teachers inside to a classroom, but also died. Twenty-nine other pupils were wounded, along with a teacher. "There was shooting all over. ... I was scared," said sixth-grader Binh Hoang, who was born in Vietnam in 1975 in the final days of war and had never before heard gunfire. "Everybody was crying in my class." Police said a drifter identified as Patrick Edward Purdy, 26, armed with two handguns and an AK-47 assault rifle, entered the school grounds around noontime Tuesday and fired about 60 rounds before he shot himself to death. Afterward, a large handgun and the assault rifle lay on the ground near a pool of blood and the gunman's body. The word "victory" was written on the pistol handle. Binh said she was sitting in math class when the shooting began outside the wood-and-stucco school building. Her teacher told students to get under their desks. The gunfire startled Michael Cuevas, whose first thought was that the University of the Pacific fraternities near his house were firing their miniature cannon again. But the shots repeated too rapidly for a cannon, and the scream of sirens that followed told him this time was no prank. "I never thought a tragedy of this magnitude could happen in Stockton," said Cuevas, a 29-year-old marine clerk at the Port of Stockton who lives down the street from the elementary school. "It's always in some other town, some other place. It's a shock to my senses. I don't think it's even hit me as hard as it's going to. You don't know whether to be excited, or confused or what." Police cars and news reporters crowded the street, which typically is busy only when parents pick up and drop off their children. "Why here?" said Jeff Russell, 37, who was born and reared in the neighborhood. "This has always been a sleepy little town. (The shooting) put us back on the map." Lutheran and Baptist churches border the school in a neighborhood of ranch-style homes, postage-stamp lawns and streets lined with sycamore and oak trees in this agricultural city of 150,000 people 60 miles southeast of San Francisco. The 40-year-old neighborhood near the University of the Pacific is still home to many retired couples who raised their familes there. But the city has been changing with the influx of Southeast Asian refugees. When school officials called clergy to console grieving families, Buddhist priests in sandals and saffron robes arrived along with their white-collared Christian counterparts. About 60 percent of Cleveland Elementary's students are of Southeast Asian descent, said John Klose, spokesman for the Stockton School District. The five children who were killed were Vietnamese and Cambodian. "This is one of our best neighborhood schools," Klose said. "Of all of our schools that I would think of something like this happening, this would be the last one I would think of." Across the street, Sarah Abbott stood astride her bicycle and gazed at the school where she graduated "many years ago." The professional nanny said she was at the house of her 97-year-old grandfather about a block from the school when the gunman set his car on fire before starting to shoot. "When the car exploded, my grandpa's house just shook," Abbott said. "It scared me. ... It was just too close." 
 A South Carolina school where a gunman killed two 8-year-old girls Sept. 26 will send cards and offer words of encouragement to a California school that lost five pupils in a shooting rampage. "We will tell them they can survive this," said Kat Finkbeiner, a physical education teacher whose jaw was shattered in the shooting spree last year at Greenwood's Oakland Elementary School. "I would tell them, `Lean on your community, share the sorrow.' We've lived through this. I know we can help." On Sept. 26, a man with a history of mental problems opened fire with a handgun at Oakland Elementary School, killing two youngsters and wounding nine other people. Ms. Finkbeiner helped subdue the gunman, Jamie Wilson, 19. On Tuesday, a 26-year-old drifter with a long crimnal record opened fire with an assault rifle at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, Calif., killing five children and wounding 30 other people before taking his own life. "It's unpleasant. It's unhappy, but they can live through it; they can be happy another day," Ms. Finkbeiner said. Children at the Greenwood school will be asked to send cards to the California school, while the principal, Eleanor Rice, and Ms. Finkbeiner said they will contact officials at the Stockton school to offer encouragement. "Our wounds have not closed. We are still hurting. It makes us more compassionate for these people," the principal said. Eveline Higginbotham, the third-grade teacher in whose classroom the two little girls died, said the California tragedy "just brings it all back again." "I'm just in shock," she said. 
 Four imprisoned African National Congress leaders, convicted in 1964 with Nelson Mandela, were allowed to visit their ANC colleague at his isolated prison house, an activist said today. The four men, all held at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, were taken to nearby Victor Verster Prison on Dec. 23 and spent about six hours with Mandela, said Dullah Omar, an activist and family friend of the Mandelas. Mandela was moved to the suburban-style home on the prison grounds Dec. 7 after recovering from tuberculosis at a private clinic in Cape Town. Mandela's wife, Winnie, said after visiting her husband last month that he is being held "practically in solitary confinement" at the house. The four men who visited Mandela are Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mhlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba and Ahmed Kathrada. The men were convicted along with Mandela and three others at the same trial in 1964. All were given life sentences for their activities with the ANC, the main guerrilla group attempting to overthrow the white-led government. "All of them _ except Sisulu _ had not seen Nelson since 1986, and they were very excited at being able to spend time with him," Omar said. Of the three co-defendants not at the Dec. 23 gathering, two have been released and one remains at the Robben Island Prison near Cape Town. The Prisons Service declined to confirm or deny the visit. 
 Here is a profile of the gunman who took the lives of five children at a Stockton, Calif., school Tuesday. It is based on information from police and relatives, and on background reported by the Sacramento Bee newspaper. NAME: Patrick Edward Purdy, also called self Eddie Purdy West. AGE: 24. DESCRIPTION: 5-foot-11, 150 pounds, blue eyes, blond hair. FAMILY: Parents married in Stockton, Calif., and divorced after short time. Mother remarried and took Purdy to Lake Tahoe, Nev., area and on to Sacramento area, where she still lives. Father, a Lodi, Calif., taxi company employee, was struck and killed by car in September 1981. CHILDHOOD: Described by aunt as child alcoholic and loner. EDUCATION: Records indicate a Patrick Edward Purdy attended Cleveland Elementary School, scene of Tuesday's shooting, through third grade, from 1969 to 1973. Dropped out of high school. Early in 1988, began attending vocational classes in welding at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton. EMPLOYMENT: Began drifting 10 years ago, crisscrossing country in search of work. Worked for now-defunct Green Keys Nursery in Key West, Fla., from October 1984 to April 1985, using name Eddie West. Left nursery to work briefly for construction company, then apparently departed for West Coast. Was hired in January 1988 and worked for about a month at Numeri Tech, a Stockton machine shop. In June 1988, traveled to Oregon, where worked in Portland as welder, then continued on to Colorado, Texas and Connecticut. Workers at Blount Bros. Construction Co. in Memphis, Tenn., said Purdy worked with them for short time in October 1988 as boilermaker mechanic. ARRESTS: 1980, Los Angeles, charges involving prostitution; 1982, Los Angeles, marijuana charge; 1983, Beverly Hills, weapons charge; 1983, Los Angeles, charge of receiving stolen property; (date unreported), Woodland, Calif., robbery charge. Apparently served time in jail for last two offenses. OTHER PROBLEMS: In 1986, his mother called Stockton police to complain that he and his half-brother vandalized her car after she refused demands for drug money. Twice tried to kill himself while in police custody in El Dorado County in April 1987, after he and half-brother fired at trees near Lake Tahoe with a semi-automatic pistol. Made a rope out of torn shirt and tried to hang himself, then tried to cut his wrists, police said. When arrested, was carrying a book about the white supremicist group Aryan Nations. Told an El Dorado County sheriff's deputy it was his "duty to help the suppressed and to overthrow the suppressor." In subsequent mental health report, was described as dangerous and suffering from "mild mental retardation." 
 The image of a dour, shoeless English boy and his absent, carefree mother prompted Julia Baird and Geoffrey Giuliano to collaborate on a book. The boy is the public image of young John Lennon, Baird's half-brother and Giuliano's idol. But the neglected urchin and his live-it-up mother _ who was also Baird's mother _ never existed, the authors say. "That woman laughing, singing, dancing, saying goodbye to John, and John standing there alone crying `Mummy, Mummy!' That's not my brother, that's not my mother, that's not my children's grandmother," said Baird, who recently spent three weeks in the United States promoting her book, a family portrait of Lennon and his Liverpool roots. Published in North America last fall, "John Lennon, My Brother" was co-authored by Giuliano, a Beatles aficionado who lives in this Erie Canal city about 25 miles north of Buffalo. The two-year, cross-Atlantic collaboration came from two different motives. Giuliano wanted to do a book about Lennon. Baird wanted to do a book about the ex-Beatle's maligned mother, whose name also was Julia. The result is a little of both, a mishmash of anecdotes showing a moody but generally happy Liverpool boy singing with his mother in a bathroom with good acoustics. Baird disagrees with other biographies which say that after his father decamped and Julia turned her son over to her sister, Mimi, Lennon was a grim youth who felt abandoned by his mother. "I didn't do it for John," said Baird. "I wanted to set the record straight about our mother, and that ties in with John. I feel my mother has been badly misrepresented in the press." Baird, a 41-year-old teacher in Cheshire, England, was born seven years after Lennon to Julia and her common-law second husband, John Dykins. She and her younger sister, Jacqui, grew up with their parents amid an extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins _ and big brother John. The book tells of the sisters getting hauled out of the bathtub when teen-agers Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison drop by for bathroom jam sessions with Julia. It tells of an alternately thoughtless and protective brother who leaves his step-sisters at the movies for hours while he goes on a date, who between songs at a Beatles concert shouts for security guards to lift the Dykins girls out of the front row, away from screaming fans threatening to storm the stage. But mostly it tells of a mother and son who, while living apart, had a loving relationship. The book got its start after Baird watched a British television special in 1985 marking the fifth anniversary of Lennon's murder. The show presented Julia "as an unfit mother, no mother at all," Baird said. Baird complained and was urged to tell her story. She wrote an essay and arranged to publish it in Liverpool. Then she met Giuliano, who was in Liverpool to promote his first book, "The Beatles: A Celebration." Giuliano, 35, a self-proclaimed huckster, convinced Baird to work with him on a book, which he pieced together from interviews with Baird in England. While proofreading the text, Baird sent a copy to McCartney. He sent his blessing, plus a bonus: a brief foreword for the book. With a collection of rare early photos, the book is more a family album than a biography. Giuliano's text reads like oral history, as if a British schoolteacher had spread the family scrapbook across the reader's knees to boast about her brother, the musician. However, the book is a narrow view of Lennon, a child's recollections of an aspiring brother. After Julia was killed in a traffic accident in 1958, Baird saw less and less of Lennon, losing contact with him for years when he and wife Yoko Ono moved to the United States. The end of the book describes what Baird calls Lennon's desire to regain his lost Liverpool roots, when she and her step-brother exchanged letters and phone calls during 1975-80. Baird has been accused of cashing in on her step-brother but insists she just wants to tell the family's story of Lennon's early years. "I could have cashed in when John was alive," Baird said. "When John died the tabloids in England were knocking on the door saying, `Write your story, name your price.' We quickly showed them the door." Also shown the door was Albert Goldman, whose sordid biography, "The Lives of John Lennon," hit bookstores about the same time as Baird's book. Baird, who read Goldman's scathing biography of Elvis Presley, said she turned down an interview with Goldman, who brands Lennon homosexual, anorexic and possibly a murderer. "I had heard Goldman was doing the book six years ago, and I knew what the tone would be," Baird said. "Most people, including Goldman, write books based on other books that have it all wrong." Giuliano was harsher. "Goldman was in it for the money from day one," Giuliano said. "Goldman knows the formula: the more sleaze, the more dough. So what's his motive? If he writes the sleaziest book he makes the most dough." Baird herself wasn't blind to the business end of publishing. She agreed to change the title from "My Brother John" to "John Lennon, My Brother." The cover's look-alike photos of Baird and Lennon in granny specs also help, but she said she didn't don them to sell books. They're on the National Health, Britain's medical plan, and she and Lennon inherited their mother's short-sightedness, Baird said. The book itself is a loving look through rose-colored specs of a brother whose art touched millions. "It's not a major biography," Giuliano said. "This book is a little slice out of a big pie, out of a big life. It offers a lot of previously unknown details on Lennon's early life. It's a sympathetic view, sure, but what's not to love?" 
 Grief-stricken family and friends mourned the deaths of five school children gunned down during recess, while the killer was buried nearly unnoticed in a nearby town. Parents and teachers continued counseling the children who witnessed Tuesday's schoolyard slayings, trying to help them deal with the tragedy. Patrick Purdy, 24, opened fire outside the Cleveland Elementary School with an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, firing more than 100 rounds, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher. Three days and nights of prayer began Thursday for two of the youngsters killed, and services for the other children were being held today and Monday. Gov. George Deukmejian was to attend Monday's services. Purdy was buried Friday in nearby Lodi, said his grandmother, Julia Chumbley. He was interred following a service at Cherokee Memorial Cemetery, which several of his relatives attended, she said. Fourteen of the wounded students were still hospitalized, but most were reported in improved conditions. At Cleveland School, about three-quarters of the school's 970 pupils had returned to classes by Friday, about three times the number who attended Wednesday, but it was anything but a routine school day. Counselors and school psychologists were assisting teachers in classrooms, and some parents sat in with their children to comfort and reassure them. One mother, who asked not to be identified, told reporters that her youngest son, a 7-year-old second grader who was on playground when the shootings occurred, would only come back to school if she stayed with him. "They're making it back, slowly but surely," she said, adding that she planned to spend Friday as she did Thursday, at her son's side in the classroom. Cleveland School is in the heart of California's third-largest community of refugees from Southeast Asia, and nearly two-thirds of the school's population is from Asia. All of the dead children were from refugee families, as were 19 of the 29 wounded. School authorities said they were particularly concerned that the killing might not only revive the psychological trauma of the horrors they experienced in Southeast Asia, but that those families might flee from the area without accepting counseling if they feared a racial motive in the attack. "We want to pass the word to the community that this is not a racist act ... It could happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime. This is a crazy action from one individual. It is not racism," said An Tran of the Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement Program. Stockton Police Capt. Dennis Perry also repeated that there was no evidence that Purdy, who committed suicide after the attack, was specifically targeting Asians. "It wasn't any one race or group of people. He hated everybody," Perry said of Purdy, who as a child 14 years earlier had attended Cleveland School. 
 Grieving relatives and friends gathered at memorial services Saturday to mourn the five school children slain by a camouflage-garbed, suicidal drifter. "Although there are some people in the United States who do bad things, most of the people in the United States do good things," said Patricia Busher, principal of Cleveland Elementary School, where the killings and the woundings of 29 students and one teacher happened last Tuesday. "The tragedy that occurred at our school could have happened anywhere. There is no way to protect us from this kind of tragedy ... this senseless tragedy. In time, some of the cutting edge of the pain will go away," Busher said. Her speech, at a memorial service attended by 200 people for the four Cambodian children killed, was translated as she spoke into the Cambodian language. "Tragedy has followed you," state Sen. John Garamendi told the families, refugees from a country where more than 1 million people were killed in executions and enforced hardship after a 1975 communist takeover. The service, held in Central Methodist Church, was for 8-year-old Oeun Lim, 9-year-old Rathanan Or, 8-year-old Ram Chun and 6-year-old Sokhim An. During the morning, a Catholic funeral mass and burial were held for 6-year-old Thuy Tran, daughter of Vietnamese refugees. Another memorial service for the four Cambodians was planned Sunday at a mortuary. Gov. George Deukmejian planned to speak at a service Monday morning for all five children at Stockton Civic Auditorium. People attending that service were asked to follow a Southeast Asian cultural tradition and wear black-and-white ribbons. Patrick Edward Purdy, who turned a gun on himself after firing more than 100 rounds from an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle at Cleveland Elementary, where he had attended grade school, was buried Friday in an unmarked grave in a family plot at Lodi. Ten of the wounded children and the wounded teacher remained hospitalized Saturday. Three children were discharged Friday. Stockton police said they have located all of Purdy's close relatives, except for his mother, identified as 43-year-old Kathy Snyder. Police said she has had four different surnames and that when she renewed her driver's license a year ago, she used an address in La Mesa that turned out to be a chemical shed. 
 In a dramatic finish, the San Francisco 49ers football team won the Super Bowl on Sunday with a 20-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Montana's 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left provided the winning margin. The victory was achieved through the brilliance of Montana and Jerry Rice, the wide receiver who caught 12 passes for 222 yards, both Super Bowl records. Rice was named the game's most valuable player. The winning score came at the end of a 92-yard drive, engineered by Montana, whose touchdown pass gave him a Super Bowl record with 357 yards passing. It was the fifth straight win for a National Football Conference team, but by far the most dramatic _ the previous four had been by an average score of 41-14. It also gave 49ers Coach Bill Walsh his third Super Bowl win. The game was a defensive struggle in the first half, which ended in a 3-3 tie. Two key players were injured in the first 14 plays, Cincinnati's All-Pro nose tackle Tim Krumrie and San Francisco's tackle Steve Wallace. The first touchdown didn't come until 44 minutes into the 60-minute game, when Cincinnati's Stanford Jennings took a kickoff 93 yards for a score. The game, before a crowd of 75,179 at Joe Robbie Stadium, went undisrupted by racial tensions in Miami. 
 Leopold Gratz, the president of Parliament and one of the most powerful politicians in the Socialist Party, resigned today over a scandal surrounding the mysterious sinking of ship 12 years ago. Gratz, 59, is the second senior Socialist official to step down because of his alleged involvement in the so-called "Lucona" scandal, the subject of a widely publicized investigation by a parliamentary committee. Interior Minister Karl Blecha, like Gratz a onetime protege of former Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, resigned Jan.19. Blecha and Gratz have denied wrongdoing or aiding Udo Proksch, the prime suspect in the sinking of the ship Lucona in the Indian Ocean. Six sailors died. The Lucona's cargo was officially described by Proksch as for a uranium processing plant and insured for $16 million. The insurance company has never paid, claiming the cargo was only scrap metal and alleging the vessel was intentionally sunk to collect the insurance money. Proksch, wanted by Austrian justice on suspicion of murder and insurance fraud, has been variously described to be living in Syria, the Philippines and Latin America. In several interviews, Gratz described himself as a close friend of Proksch, but when Proksch fled to escape prosecution, Gratz criticized him. Gratz told Parliament today he would give up his seat in February, hence his post as president, one of the most prestigious posts in Austria. "My decision is a personal one and it is politically motivated," Gratz told the house. "If it becomes impossible for the president to effectively take a stand on significant issues or to speak up on problems of parliamentarism because everybody is only interested in his context in a single other topic, then he cannot serve the National Council (parliament) in such a way as is his duty." In past newspaper stories, Gratz was accused of providing fabricated evidence from abroad to help Proksch in his claim that the controversial shipment was for a uranium processing plant. Gratz, who denied the allegations, was also accused of helping Proksch in several other ways. Like Blecha, Gratz is to appear before the parliamentary investigation committee. 
 An Argentine supply ship that ran aground off Antarctica sank Tuesday in heavy seas and high winds, the government said, and there was concern oil in its hold could leak and damage the environment. The sinking of the 400-foot Bahia Paraiso followed warnings from the U.S. National Science Foundation that the unspoiled Antarctic could face ecological disaster if the 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard the ship were to spill. No injuries were reported in the sinking. Tourists aboard and the crew had been evacuated from the vessel, which was 600 miles south of Cape Horn, the tip of South America. Salvage efforts had been hampered by 50 mph winds. The double-hulled oceanographic ship sank at about 10 p.m., the government news agency Telam said, citing a navy communique. Telam did not say whether the ship broke up or if diesel oil spilled when it went down. The depth of the water in which the ship sank was not immediately known. The ship had been carrying supplies including jet fuel, gasoline and canisters of compressed gases to the Argentine Esperanza station near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, the National Science Foundation said in a statement released in Washington. The ship ran aground Saturday about two miles from Palmer Station, a U.S. research facility on the Antarctic Peninsula, the continent's tip. It sustained a 35-foot-long gash in its hull, and some of the 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel began leaking, washing ashore near Palmer station. The fuel killed some krill, a tiny shrimp-like creature that is a vital part of the Antarctic food chain, and has affected penguins, sea gulls and giant petrel birds, the National Science Foundation statement said. There were no immediate details about the extent of damage to the wildlife in the pristine surroundings. Agency spokesman Jack Renerie said Tuesday before the ship sank that the leak, which was threatening penguins and other wildlife, had stopped. "Scientists are concerned that some research search projects may already have been affected by the leak," a foundation statement said. It said two Argentine salvage vessels were expected to arrive Thursday or Friday. Before the sinking, Argentine officials had discounted a spill. Telam quoted Argentine navy sources as saying: "The fuel it carried, both for itself and the Antarctic stations, was in steel drums so a spill is practically impossible." The 316 people aboard the ship when it ran aground, including 82 passengers and 234 crew members, were rescued by power boats and taken to Palmer Station. The passengers and most of the crew were taken by cruise ship to the South Shetland Islands, from which they were airlifted to the South American mainland Sunday. But 104 crewmen remain at the station, said Renerie. Because the station is equipped for only 40 people, food has been rationed to two meals a day, a National Science Foundation statement said. 
 President Bush congratulated the San Francisco 49ers on Friday and said they "rewrote the record books" with their Super Bowl victory. In turn he was presented with two autographed balls and a jogging outfit. "Let me congratulate you also on your victory," quarterback Joe Montana told Bush at a East Room reception. Montana said being invited to the White House "means a lot to all of us" and joked: "Not very often do I get to see these guys in ties." Bush, surrounded by 49ers, told the team, "With this, your third Super Bowl title in eight years, you rewrote the record books and raised the game of football to a new level of excellence." And, to Montana, who drove the team to the winning touchdown on a 92-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, Bush said: "Joe, you once again showed your grace under pressure. I guess we all wonder why it took so long." Bush was presented autographed balls by both Montana and wide receiver Jerry Rice, who won the game's Most Valuable Player award. "That's the real thing from the Super Bowl," Rice said of the ball he gave the president. Bush joked that he heard, "there is a new TV series coming out based on your Super Bowl performance _ Miami Rice. Available in every city in the country except one. Cininnnati, that is." The 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-16, two weeks ago in Miami. Team owner Danny DeBartolo told Bush that he would be presented with a Super Bowl ring, size 11, "because we want to make you an honorary member of our team." And outgoing coach Bill Walsh gave Bush a 49ers jogging outfit, but cautioned, "I'm not sure we suggest running in the streets of Washington, D.C., in this suit....Remember the Redskin fans are all around us." Super Bowl winners are traditionally invited to the White House. 
 Defense Secretary-designate John Tower contradicted an earlier sworn statement when he told the Senate his work for a British firm involved no military matters, according to reports published Saturday. Meanwhile, new questions were raised about the thoroughness of the FBI's background investigation of the embattled nominee. One newspaper reported that several bizarre accidents, including early-morning car crashes and a hotel fire, apparently were overlooked in the probe. The Senate Armed Services Committee has put the nomination of Tower, a former Texas senator and onetime chairman of the committee, on hold while it takes a second look at Tower's personal habits, including his use of alcohol, and his links to defense contractors. Tower, who has declined to be interviewed while his nomination is pending, has denied in his Senate testimony any problem with alcohol or any conflicts of interest concerning his business ties. A White House spokesman, Stephen Hart, declined on Saturday to comment on the latest reports, saying "it's (the nomination) before the committee." Tower's designated spokesman, attorney Paul Eggers of Dallas, did not answer a reporter's calls Saturday. In written testimony to the Senate panel on Jan. 26, Tower said he could "recall no actions in connection with any defense activities" in connection with his work for the U.S. subsidiary of British Aerospace, Inc. That statement, according to two publications, The Los Angeles Times and the Legal Times, did not square with information which Tower provided to divorce attorneys working for his second wife in June of 1987. In the divorce deposition, Tower said he went to work for British Aerospace eight weeks after resigning as the nation's chief strategic arms negotiator and advised the company on how to sell training jets, fighter planes and missile systems to the Pentagon, the Los Angeles Times reported. Tower told the Senate committee he worked chiefly on selling commercial aircraft to U.S. airlines and also advised the firm on trade legislation and currency fluctuations. He said he earned $265,000 from the company between June of 1986 and last December. The Legal Times said Tower told the divorce attorneys that he was retained by British Aerospace for his advice on how to sell weapons systems to the Pentagon, and that he listed the various weapons involved. The deposition was never filed in court because Tower did not contest the divorce, but a copy was obtained by the FBI, the Legal Times said. It said its reporters were allowed by attorneys to read it with the understanding that it not be quoted directly. The New York Post reported Saturday that the FBI apparently has not bothered to talk to Tower's neighbors, examine certain police records or investigate several car accidents involving Tower. The Post, citing syndicated columnist Cody Shearer, said the incidents included an early-morning episode on June 6, 1967, when Tower was trapped in his hotel suite in Dallas by a blaze he accidentally set by dropping a cigarette on an overstuffed armchair. When firemen broke into his room to remove him, "he was reportedly in no condition to free himself," the Post said. The newspaper also said Tower wrecked his car in two early-morning accidents within weeks of one another in 1970, and, two years earlier, he drove into a bicycle ridden by James Patrick Montoya, son of the late Sen. Joseph Montoya, D-N.M., on his way home from work. The youth was not seriously hurt. FBI spokesman Bill Carter refused comment on specifics of the Tower investigation, but said "We will follow any lead." On Friday, Tower authorized the release of a statement that recent hospital tests showed no evidence of alcohol abuse, and Vice President Dan Quayle said, "I have never seen drinking being a factor in John Tower's life other than a social glass of wine." Eggers, meanwhile, acknowledged that there was "no question" that Tower sometimes drank too much in the early 1970s, but he said: "He is not an alcoholic. He's not had a drinking problem for years." 
 To the rest of the world, he was known as Emperor Hirohito, but in Japan his given name was seldom used. In Japanese he was simply called Tenno Heika, meaning His Majesty The Emperor. The foreign habit of using his name rankled some Japanese, who found it impolite, and unnecessary since to them there is only one emperor. Some Japanese complained that after his death it even became inaccurate to call him Hirohito because he has been given the posthumous name Showa. In Japanese histories, he will be recorded as Emperor Showa, the name he chose for his reign soon after he became emperor in 1926. It means Enlightened Peace, and has been succeeded by Heisei, or Achieving Peace, the name the government chose for the reign of Hirohito's son Akihito a few hours after the emperor died Jan. 7. But for the convenience of the rest of the world, which is not so able to keep track of the person behind the changed name, even official agencies have used the name Hirohito in English-language publications. The obituary issued in English by the Foreign Press Center, which is supported by the Foreign Ministry, was headed "His late Majesty The Emperor Hirohito." English-language newspapers published in Japan quickly began using the name Showa for Hirohito after his death, but it did not become truly official until Jan. 31, when Emperor Akihito conducted a ceremony in which Showa became the late emperor's posthumous name. A stone tablet placed in his tomb is engraved only with the posthumous name and the dates of his death and burial. The custom of renaming emperors after the completion of their reigns began after the death in 1912 of Emperor Meiji, Hirohito's grandfather. In Japan, years are numbered according to the emperor's tenure on the throne. Thus 1926 became Showa 1 as Crown Prince Hirohito ascended to the throne on Dec. 25 when his father, Emperor Taisho, died. The year 1927 was Showa 2, and 1989 was Showa 64 until Hirohito's death on Jan. 7. Now this year is Heisei 1. The Japanese custom of changing imperial names is not unique among world royalty, where an individual may have a variety of names and titles in a royal career. In Britain, Prince Andrew became the Duke of York upon his marriage in 1986. 
 Rep. Larry Combest, R-Texas, issued a terse statement Tuesday supporting Defense-Secretary designate John Tower but refused to comment on a published report that he told Senate Armed Services Committee leaders that Tower used to drink up to a bottle of scotch at a sitting. An unidentified congressional source told The Washington Post that Combest's statement about Tower's drinking habits in the 1970s came down on Sen. Sam Nunn, the committee chairman, "like a ton of bricks" and was a factor in Nunn's opposition to the nomination. The newspaper reported that Combest later gave a different story to the FBI, saying that Tower and a group of friends _ not Tower alone _ had frequently consumed a bottle of scotch. After meeting with staff and advisers, Combest, who worked for then-Sen. Tower in the 1970s, issued a two-sentence statement supporting his fellow Texan. "As a member of Congress, I have tremendous respect and full confidence in the senator and his abilities to lead this country's armed forces. In my judgment, John Tower will be a superb secretary of defense," the statement said. Combest spokesman Rich Adams refused to comment further, and said Combest was not available to speak to reporters. The Washington Post reported that Combest described for Nunn and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the committee, Tower's heavy drinking bouts in the 1970s. A congressional source was quoted as saying that Combest told the senators that Tower would drink as much as a full bottle of scotch two or three times a week. Trudi Boyd, Combest's administrative assistant, told the Post that Combest originally went to Nunn and Warner to tell them Tower had ended his previous excessive abuse of alcohol. Boyd also told the Post that a "group of people" drank the entire bottle of scotch, not Tower alone. That was the account Combest gave the FBI following his talk with Nunn and Warner, the newspaper said. It said that in that account, Combest said that he had only seen Tower drunk on two or three occasions. Tower has acknowledged that he drank excessively in the 1970s, but says he has reduced his intake to wine with dinner. On Sunday, he promised to not drink a drop of alcohol if confirmed as defense secretary. Combest, 43, worked for Tower for seven years, 1971-1978, as a legislative assistant handling agricultural legislation and policy. Tower served in the Senate for 24 years, deciding not to seek re-election in 1984. He was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1981 through 1984. The committee, now controlled by Democrats, voted 11-9 along party lines last Thursday to recommend the full Senate reject Tower's nomination. 
 The Democratic-controlled Senate today rejected the nomination of former Texas Sen. John Tower as defense secretary, delivering a major rebuke to President Bush just 49 days into his term. The Senate's 53-47 vote came after a bitter and divisive debate focused on Tower's drinking habits, behavior toward women and his business dealings with defense contractors. It was only the ninth time in 200 years that the Senate has voted to reject a president's Cabinet choice and the only time it has done so early in a new administration. Vice President Dan Quayle presided over the Senate during the roll call, underscoring Bush's commitment to the nominee. The Senate galleries were packed and virtually all senators were in their seats as the roll was called. "The nomination of John Tower to be secretary of defense is not confirmed," Quayle intoned after the vote. Kansas GOP Sen. Nancy Kassebaum provided the biggest surprise of the final hours of debate when she became the sole Republican to declare her opposition. She said her "most serious concerns" were over Tower's activities as a defense consultant after serving as an arms control negotiator. She also expressed doubts that he would pay enough attention to ensuring fairness for women in the military. Tower's Republican defenders began to speak of him in the past tense and the nominee also appeared to accept defeat, even before the roll was called. "Just moments ago I took a call from John Tower," said Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the senior GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "His head is high, his voice is strong," Warner said. "He asked me to convey thanks _ in his words _ to the troops who rallied to his support." Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, moved to repair damage caused by the bitter struggle to relations between the Senate and President Bush. "I know what's in my heart and in my mind," he told reporters. "I want to directly, clearly and unambiguously say that this doesn't represent an effort to be harmful to the president." Dole agreed to a late-afternoon vote on the nomination after acknowledging the collapse of a last-minute bid to give Tower an extraordinary six-month trial period as defense secretary to prove he could abstain from drinking. There was no doubt about the outcome as the Senate went through the motions of debating the nomination through the final hours before the roll call. The last few undecided senators declared their positions. Sen. John B. Breaux, D-La., said he would vote against Tower. Sen. James M. Jeffords, R-Vt., said he would support the nomination. Senators from both parties credited Tower's defeat to the decision to oppose him made by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "When he made his decision all the other Democrats wheeled in behind him," said Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I. With the prospect of defeat seemingly inevitable, White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said, "If necessary, we'll come up with a (new) candidate very rapidly." Names most frequently mentioned in White House speculation as a replacement for Tower if his nomination failed are Sen. Warner, a former secretary of the Navy; former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; former Rep. Jack Edwards, R-Ala.; and national security adviser Brent Scowcroft. Scowcroft replied "No" when asked this morning if he was in line for the Pentagon job. "It must be clear to all that people like the chief of staff and the national security adviser, any number of congressmen and senators and any number of other outside experts have candidates on the tip of their tongue," Fitzwater said. "But the time has not come," he added. "The time will come as soon as the vote is completed. We will wait until then." The most recent Associated Press survey showed 52 Democrats and one Republican committed to vote against Tower or leaning strongly in that direction. It showed 41 Republicans and three Democrats declared for Tower or leaning his way. Nevertheless, the White House said it wanted to see the nomination go all the way to a vote. Tower, meanwhile, reported for work at the Pentagon where he and his three daughters had coffee together. He then continued a review of various administration proposals. "I hope and believe we can work together on important matters," Mitchell said. "The tension of this issue will have no long-lasting effect on the relationship. I want to say from the bottom of my heart that I hope this will be the case." The already slim chance Tower would be confirmed was dealt a crushing blow on Wednesday as a parade of previously undecided Democratic senators announced they would vote "no." Only Democrat Lloyd Bentsen of Texas said he would vote "yes," joining just two other Democrats who have made that decision. Sens. Charles Robb, D-Va., Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., J. Bennett Johnston, D-La., Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., and Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., all said they would vote against Tower. Johnston said his reading of the FBI report on Tower leaves him with the clear impression that Tower's personality changes when he drinks heavily, leading to "a recklessness in the social sense" entirely different from his behavior when sober. 
 John G. Tower has fallen, but the sky has not. For all the forecasts of dire results if the Senate blocked Tower's path to the Pentagon, business is proceeding as usual. President Bush said the case was closed and accepted Democratic assurances of future cooperation. That doesn't undo the resentment among some of Tower's more ardent Republican allies in the Senate and in some corners of the White House. Bush lieutenants claimed they had heard what sounded like assurances of support from a dozen Senate Democrats. They ended up with only three Democrats in the close-to-party-line vote against Tower. Nevertheless, a week after the former Texas senator was denied confirmation as secretary of defens, the waters have closed. There will be ripples, and some of them could be wave-sized. The good-behavior rules set in the debate over Tower's drinking habits and his lucrative defense consulting business are certain to be invoked as precedents whenever Republicans spot a Democratic target. "We've established what will be known as the Tower standards," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va. That argument will be used by House Republicans challenging the financial conduct of House Speaker Jim Wright. But it will be a debating point, not a turning point, in a Wright controversy that was ordained long before the Tower episode. While President Bush was unwavering in his support of Tower, he burned no bridges to congressional Democrats. He insisted that Tower was the best man for the job and he spoke out repeatedly for his choice, even after it was clear that the nomination was doomed. But he didn't get nasty about it, saying there was no point in escalating the fight. "That's over," he said 24 hours after the Tower defeat. "That's history. And now we are going to go forward." The 53-47 vote against Tower was a setback to Bush in the sense that it always is a defeat when Congress denies a president something he wants. But this denial did not cost Bush a program, or a major campaign pledge, or the support of voters. Indeed, it could turn out that the Senate did the president a favor by sending Tower back to Texas instead of to the Pentagon. It was a break Bush could not make with a political ally who had been after the Pentagon job since Ronald Reagan was elected president. Tower had not been a Reagan man _ he had supported Bush for the 1980 nomination. And the Reagan White House went to some lengths to rule the senator out of the job he sought, declaring that the new president would not be nominating any Senate Republican for any Cabinet post. After Tower's long wait, Bush displayed his own loyalty, all the way to a losing vote when the standard, somewhat safer course would have been to withdraw the nominee. Tower not only shunned withdrawal; he offered conditions that had to be humiliating, if only the Senate would let him have the job. Tower promised to quit drinking, taking the pledge on national television. And when that didn't work, he offered to become the first-ever probationary Cabinet member. Republicans proposed that he get the job for a six-month trial and then return for reconfirmation, a gimmick that would have changed the system and could have haunted the presidency. No deal. So Tower became the ninth Cabinet nominee ever to be rejected, the first who was a former senator. Bush said he had been fighting for the right of a president to appoint his own Cabinet, but he avoided language that would have raised the political stakes. Tower did not restrain himself. Battling for the job, he said withdrawal would damage Bush and rejection would be "damning the president's judgment." He said his nomination had been turned into a vehicle for a major presidential defeat. Tower's advocates on the Senate floor said grave constitutional issues were at stake, that the authority of the presidency was on the line, that the Senate will come to rue the rules it wrote in the Tower decision. But Bush said all along that the outcome, either way, would not hurt on other issues. Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the pivotal figure in the Tower defeat, agreed. He told his Georgia constituents that the Tower rejection would not hurt Bush's leadership. "In Washington, `triumphs' and `setbacks' are short-lived," Nunn said, "and that's particularly true of the president." Walter R. Mears, vice president and columnist for The Associated Press, has reported on Washington and national politics for more than 25 years. 
 Andrei D. Sakharov urged members of the Academy of Sciences on Monday to reject the leadership's list of candidates for the new Soviet legislature, which does not include the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The 67-year-old nuclear physicist and human rights activist, who won the Nobel in 1975, said in a speech to the academy that many scientists objected to the slate for Sunday's election approved by the leadership in January. Sakharov and several other well-known proponents of reform are missing from the list. The official news agency Tass quoted him as saying, however, that scientists were upset "not because Sakharov was not nominated, but because the role of scientific institutions was ignored." He called for reversal of what he called the anti-democratic decision, which produced a list of what critics describe as old-guard managers of scientific institutions. A vote on the academy candidates is scheduled for Tuesday. Sakharov was nominated from several geographic districts for a seat in the new 2,250-member Congress of People's Deputies, but he decided to refuse the nominations and fight for an Academy of Sciences seat. Under an election law approved in December, 750 seats in the legislature are reserved for the Communist Party and its affiliates and for professional, social and trade union organizations. The other 1,500 will be filled by representatives of the 15 Soviet republics and their electoral districts. Those in the academy who support Sakharov hope to force a new round of nominations by mustering enough support to deny all nominees a majority, said Andrei Mironov, a former political prisoner. That would force the academy to start over and produce a new list of nominees under terms of the new election law. Twenty-five seats were allotted to the academy, but it gave five to affiliated societies and associations. From 121 nominees, the academy leadership chose 23 candidates for the remaining 20 seats. Although 60 research institutes nominated Sakharov, he was not chosen for the final slate. The leadership's decision inspired widespread press criticism and a demonstration at the academy's Moscow headquarters. Tass said 1,108 academicians, corresponding members and representatives of reseach institutes attended the three-day meeting that began Monday. "The first three days of this week may become the `hottest' spring days for Soviet scientists," it said, alluding to the leadership's rejection of such reformers as Sakharov, space scientist Roald Sagdeev and sociologist Tatyana Zaslavsakaya. The agency acknowledged "many scientists were unsatisfied" with the slate of candidates. Mironov said two other academicians also spoke on Monday in favor of new nominations. No details of their remarks were available. 
 Oscar selection has come under scrutiny as film studios go to new lengths to pull votes out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And with the flood of Oscar vote enticements _ from free coffee mugs to complimentary buffet dinners _ Academy members are acknowledging that some Oscar voting is done by committee, in violation of the rules. Secretaries, spouses and friends, several Academy members say, are marking ballots in what is supposed to be the entertainment industry's most esteemed awards competition. "It's like a local election of judges," said Academy member Harry Clein, who said he's witnessed team voting. "A lot of people don't know who the candidates are. So they take a look at who's around them and see what the consensus is. "As far as elections go, it's not bad. But I've never been through an election in Argentina." Dan Lyle, who oversees the Oscar balloting for the accounting firm Price, Waterhouse Inc., said that there is no guarantee that Academy members have actually filled out their own ballots. "All we know is that a properly numbered ballot has been returned," he said. "Members are on the honor system to fill out the ballot themselves." More than 4,600 members were given ballots this year for the 61st Annual Academy Awards, which will be telecast on March 29 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Academy members vote on their area of specialty. The Academy's actors branch, for example, is the only group to select nominees in the four acting categories. Since the voting is done secretly _ members do not sign their ballots _ the ballot's authenticity is ensured solely by a numeric control number, Lyle said. Ballots are invalidated only if there is more than one vote in a given category, and only the votes in that specific category are not tallied, he said. Nominations for acting, directing, art direction and all specialized categories are handled by select branches and committees composed of Academy members. All voting members of the Academy can participate in the best picture nominations and may vote for the final awards in all categories. Winners for best documentary feature, best animated short film and best live-action short film are chosen by only those members who have seen all the nominees. Academy constituent Julian Blaustein said that most of his colleagues take the voting very seriously. "I don't even vote (in a category) if I'm not familiar with the pictures in that category. ... And I've never told someone to vote for a film, even when I've done some of them." Meanwhile, other Oscar voting rules are perhaps being broken, speculates veteran Academy member Millard Kaufman. "Although you're asked to vote in the nominations for five pictures, I think a lot of people figure out that they have a better chance if they just vote for their own picture and leave the other four blank," he said. Given the tremendous impact both an Oscar nomination and an Oscar victory have on a film's fortunes, it's not entirely surprising that a certain degree of artifice might surround the Oscars. "The Last Emperor" took in $18.9 million, close to half the film's gross, after it won last year's best picture trophy. More than 70 percent of the revenues generated by 1986's best picture, "Platoon," came after the film was nominated. On average, a best picture award is worth about $20 million these days. A $500,000 Oscar promotional campaign mounted by a studio, therefore, can be a good investment. In the case of this year's awards, a flurry of Academy-oriented newspaper advertisements, banquets, complimentary gifts and photo mailings tied to five late releases appears to have been remarkably successful. This year, all best picture nominees and the large majority of top acting nominees came from movies released in December: "The Accidental Tourist," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Rain Man" and "Working Girl" were all released after Dec. 16. While these five movies might be good, the nearly complete exclusion of films from the rest of the year has highlighted the studios' mastery of Oscar marketing. "I think the Academy Awards are crap," said Terry Gilliam, director of "Brazil" and the current "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." "It's about selling films is all it's about," he said. "It's one more way of flogging some films. When `Brazil' got nominated (in 1986), they asked me to be a member of the Academy. And I wouldn't join. I just don't want to be a part of that at all." And at least one prominent Academy member, director Carl Reiner, says that the manipulation of Oscar voters has reached new depths. Reiner said that Universal Studios' all-out effort to bag votes for Sigourney Weaver, a best actress nominee for "Gorillas in the Mist," could lead him to vote against the film. "I have in my house more color reproductions of Sigourney Weaver and a beautiful gorilla than I need," Reiner said of promotional material sent to his home. "We've got to tell the Academy to stop this advertising. I'm getting turned off on the pictures I like." 
 The store manager of the Wal-Mart in this community on the outskirts of Dallas tells a story that gives an insight into the man considered responsible for a retailing phenomenon. Manager Don Bost remembers one day last summer when a secretary telephoned from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Chairman Sam Walton was about to land at a nearby airport and the secretary asked if someone could fetch him and bring him to the De Soto store. Paying unexpected calls on stores is one way Walton has kept in close touch with everyday goings-on. His example is followed by other Wal-Mart executives and most make a point of spending a lot of time in the field. Says Ed Nagy, district manager for 9 stores in the Dallas metropolitan area, "It's not like `Uh-oh, someone's coming,' because they're always out." By all accounts, Sam Walton's personality permeates operations throughout the company. Everyone, from Wal-Mart President and Chief Operating Officer David Glass down to an hourly store worker, can readily quote the gospel according to Sam, as he is called. To paraphrase Sam's primary rules of retailing, "Rule No.1 is the customer is always right. Rule No.2 says just in case the customer's wrong, revert to rule No.1." If the principles sound old-fashioned and homespun, they are because that's the way Sam is, people who know him say. He shuns the limelight that his company's success has shed on him and has decided to refuse almost all press requests for interviews. He's happy to chat with folks in his stores, though. He also regularly reminds Wal-Mart "associates" that hospitality to customers is crucial. He preaches it in person or via high-tech satellite hookup with his stores. Wal-Mart employees became known as associates under a company effort to prove it cared about employees, partly to thwart a union organizing effort in the late 1960s. One of the most sensitive subjects for Walton is the fortune he's amassed. A close associate says Sam would "probably give anything" not to be named on Fortune magazine's list of the country's wealthiest people. The magazine has estimated that his immediate family's stake in Wal-Mart stock is worth about $6.8 billion. "Sam Walton is more interested in his backhand than he is in his bank account," says Don Shinkle, Wal-Mart spokesman. Samuel Moore Walton turns 71 on March 29. He was born in Kingfisher, Okla., and grew up as the son of a farm-mortgage banker. He graduated from the University of Missouri with an economics degree in 1940 and joined J.C. Penney Co. as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa. After serving three years in the Army, he went to Arkansas and opened a Ben Franklin five-and-dime store, eventually becoming the company's biggest franchisee. The seeds of the Wal-Mart empire were sown when Sam and his brother James L., or Bud, opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in 1962. The rest will probably earn an entry in the history of U.S. retail trade. Bud is a senior vice president and board member of Wal-Mart. Three of the four grown children Sam and his wife Helen had are involved with the company in various capacities. Sam hasn't slowed much, enjoying hunting and tennis as much as ever, and is said not to suffer after effects from a bout with leukemia, now in remission. He spends less time in the office since handing over most responsiblities to David Glass. Sam is still chairman of the board. Glass doesn't hesitate when asked if Wal-Mart can flourish without Sam. The answer is an emphatic yes because, he says, "We have great people." The Walton family will always be involved, he adds. Commenting on the future, Glass says: "We'll be judged on what we produce today. Tomorrow, what we've done in the past won't matter." 
 Free enterprise has collided with the Academy Awards, and everybody's trying to pick up the pieces. With Oscar statuettes selling at auction for more than $10,000 and a Chicago trophy company casting alleged Academy Award clones, the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scrambling to make sure Oscar's golden sheen isn't tarnished by Hollywood hucksterism. "If you know about an infringement and fail to object to it, you risk having your trademark become public domain," said Bruce Davis, the Academy's executive administrator, in explaining the lawsuits the organization has filed to protect its beloved hunk of electroplated pewter. But despite the Academy's crusade against crass commercialism, this year's awards ceremony will feature a new merchandising wrinkle: Some 800 limousines delivering the most famous stars to the Oscar telecast will be equipped with door-mounted coolers jammed with Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Classic and other Coca-Cola Co. beverages. When the limo doors swing open in front of the Shrine Auditorium and the celebrities tumble out, the Coke logo will be on display in front of an audience that includes millions around the world. "It seemed like a good marketing opportunity," said Coca-Cola spokesman Ira Gleser. "The Academy approached our local bottler in Los Angeles and said we're going to have a lot of thirsty people." But even as the Academy embraces this new intrusion of merchandising, it has lashed out at whatever else it considers a blemishing of the Oscar name. When MGM-UA, the distributor of "Rain Man," published newspaper advertisements touting the film's Oscar nominations before the nominations were even announced, the Academy issued a harsh statement condemning MGM-UA's promotional gamble. After the ads appeared, "Rain Man" collected nine nominations. "We regard this as a serious matter, and we have communicated our concern," said Richard Kahn, president of the Academy. For nearly 50 years, the Academy has maintained strict security around both the nominations and the award winners. It also has envisoned the statuette itself as something of an icon. So auctioning the Oscar has greatly distressed the Academy. The Collector's Book Store, local sponsors of monthly entertainment memorabilia auctions, has sold off seven Oscars in the past year, including the best picture trophy for 1951's "An American in Paris" ($15,760), Marlon Brando's best actor prize for 1954's "On the Waterfront" ($13,000) and the black and white interior decoration Oscar for 1941's "How Green Was My Valley" ($17,715). None were sold by the original recipients; heirs or friends who had later received the trophies put them on the block. When Malcolm Willits, the book store's owner, announced that he would hold a February auction for the 1957 best-picture trophy for "Around the World in 80 Days," the Academy said enough, initiating a court action that, for now, has blocked any future trophy sales. The Academy insists that a contract signed by Oscar winners mandates that they will not sell the trophies without first offering them to the Academy for a nominal fee. "But now that the word is out that these awards are worth $10,000 to $50,000, people are reluctant to sell them back to the Academy for $10," Willits said. "The Academy has created something of great value here. This is the most famous award in the world _ the most instantly recognizable award. The Nobel Prize might be a greater honor, but people know more about what an Academy Award looks like. "And they're very limited, too. There's not too many of them around. ... Twenty years ago, you wouldn't have a movie poster in your living room unless you were a college student. Now, you can go into Beverly Hills homes and there's a movie poster, and the darn thing's worth $10,000 or $20,000 dollars." When the Academy won a court order temporarily blocking future auctions, Willits decided to sell his store. "It seemed to be the final straw. I don't like lawsuits," he said. "I'm getting older and I'd like to write movie scripts." Yet the Academy has lost its most recent attempt to save its trophy's integrity: A copyright infringement suit brought against the Houston International Film Festival was dismissed March 16 in a California federal court. The Academy had claimed the Lone Star Statuette, designed and built by Chicago's Creative House Promotions, was "practically identical" to the Oscar. The court found otherwise. 
 Spencer Tracy's acting technique was simply "less is better," and that helped make him the screen's greatest actor. The Tracy credo is recommended to future producers of Academy Award shows. Wednesday night's orgy of self-congratulation was dazzling, glamorous and all those familiar Hollywood adjectives. Also too much. Too many endless production numbers. Too much forced conversation between couples. Too many awards with meaning lost to the general public. The use of "couples, co-stars, compadres and companions," as presenters for the 61st Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium was clever but wearing. The best Oscar shows have been emceed by Will Rogers, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson and other funnymen who provided continuity as well as a leavening of pomposity. The brightest moments of the 61st Awards came from Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Bob Hope, but they were all too brief. Tom Selleck remarked that Douglas Fairbanks Sr. handed out the first awards in 1929 in five minutes. The present awards could be staged in two hours instead of the 3 hours and 15 minutes they took Wednesday night on ABC-TV. But the show will never be shorter. Reason: The time is needed to sell all those 30-second adds at $375,000 per. Since the Academy Awards are a night of superlatives here are a few more: The most heartfelt acceptance: Dustin Hoffman. The most intelligent acceptance: Jodie Foster. Warmest reception: Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. Best looking legs: Cyd Charisse. Second-best looking legs: Martin Short. Worst desecration of an icon: Snow White portrayed as a whining would-be starlet. Best comedy routine: Billy Crystal imitating Yul Brynner as Babe Ruth. Best walk-on music: "The Second Time Around" for Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Least promising rock singer: Rob Lowe. Most overworked butt of jokes: Vice President Dan Quayle by Crystal, Hope and Williams (twice). Most prevalent fashion: Strapless gowns. Seemingly endless number: "Oscar Winners of Tomorrow." Most relentless double entendre: Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. Most questionable taste: Kurt Russell's "proposal" of marriage to Goldie Hawn. Most mentioned agent: Michael Ovitz of Creative Artists Agency. Most recurrent dance routine: The Rockettes-like line of kickers. Best exchange of banter: Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Roger Moore. Most welcomed elimination: Singing of the nominees for best song. Most stunning beauty: Michelle Pfeiffer Worst reader of Teleprompter: Walter Matthau. Editors: Wednesday's ceremony was Bob Thomas' 45th Academy Awards. 
 Two sailors were missing Monday evening after a 652-foot freighter en route from Greece apparently sank in rough seas 400 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Twenty-three crew members were rescued. The 23 sailors from the Star of Alexandria were found on a lifeboat and picked up by the merchant ship Ravenscraig, Coast Guard Petty Officer Randy Midgett said in New York. "They're all in good shape, some minor cuts and scrapes," Midgett said. The two missing sailors were believed to be on a life raft, which was the object of a hunt Monday evening by the 950-foot Ravenscraig and five Navy and Coast Guard search planes, officials said. The Ravenscraig's crew spotted a second life raft, but it turned out to be empty. The cause of the sinking was not immediately known, officials said. The Star of Alexandria had been en route from Athens, Greece, to New York with a load of cement when it began taking on water in 12-foot seas and winds up to 35 mph, Midgett said. The first mayday call went out at 9:05 a.m. A Coast Guard jet from the air station on Cape Cod and a C-130 plane from Elizabeth City, N.C., converged on the ship. The lifeboat was spotted around noon. The C-130 was able to drop a radio into the water near the boat carrying the 23 crew members and they were able to establish communications, Midgett said. About four hours later, they were rescued by the Ravenscraig. The Star of Alexandria was not spotted, and was presumed to be sinking or sunk, Midgett said. Visibility in the rough seas was five to eight miles Monday afternoon. The Star of Alexandria was built in 1966, and was registered in England. It was designed to carry bulk freight, and was owned by Caribene Investments Ltd. of Gibraltar, according to Bureau Veritas, a Paris-based shipping registry. The Ravenscraig had been bound for England, but its destination after its rescue mission was not immediately known. 
 The bodies of 47 sailors killed in the gun explosion on the Iowa arrived in the United States on Thursday as the Navy tried to figure out what caused the battleship's turret to blow up. None of the guns in the no. 2 turret had been fired before the explosion instantly killed the seamen, Navy officials said. They discarded a theory that the blast had been sparked by red-hot debris left in the gun's breech by earlier rounds. The Navy organized a board of inquiry and placed a moratorium on firing 16-inch guns, found only on the Iowa and its three sister battleships, the New Jersey, the Wisconsin and the Missouri. The Iowa was headed back to its home port at Norfolk, Va., while the bodies of the dead were flown to the military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and families of the battleship's 1,600 crewmen waited to learn whether their relatives were among the dead. At the White House, chief of staff John Sununu announced President Bush will attend a memorial service Monday for the victims in Norfolk. He said the president had heard of the service and told his staff "if it could be fitted in, he wanted to be there ... wants to be a part." The blast occurred Wednesday morning northeast of Puerto Rico as the Iowa took part in firing exercises that were part of naval training. A spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet and the ship's former captain both said the explosion in the No. 2 turret could have been triggered by red-hot debris from earlier firings in the three-gun turret. But Cmdr. Mark Baker, chief of the Navy's Pentagon press office, said later that none of the turret's three guns had been fired. Only four rounds of 22 scheduled to be fired as part of a training exercise had been fired, he said, and all had been from the No. 1 turret, forward of the one that exploded. No eyewitnesses survived Wednesday's explosion behind one of the 16-inch guns on the Iowa, one of the largest warships ever. Pentagon officials declined to speculate publicly about the exact cause of the disaster, the worst to strike a Navy ship since 1977, but two officers _ Capt. Paul Hanley, a fleet spokesman, and Capt. Larry Seaquist, the ship's former captain _ said a possible explanation was that red-hot debris from a previous round ignited new charges. But Seaquist stressed, "We simply do not know what caused that powder to go." Baker said no guns in the No. 2 turret had been fired and the order had just been given to the No. 2 turret crew to load and prepare the center gun when the explosion occurred. "We have no eyewitnesses to what actually transpired," Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told reporters as he headed back to Washington from a NATO meeting in Brussels. The Iowa sailed to Roosevelt Roads Navy Base in Puerto Rico to unload the bodies, which were then flown to Delaware. Navy investigators boarded the ship as it left for Norfolk, where it is expected to arrive Sunday or Monday. Navy Secretary William Ball attended a memorial service at the Delaware base, home of the armed services' largest mortuary. The flag-draped coffins were carried off a plane by Navy honor guards. Around the United States, Navy officers and chaplains broke the bad news to the dead men's next of kin. The job began just before midnight Wednesday, when officials in Norfolk received the list of the dead. "I've done it many times and I'll never get used to it," said Cmdr. Doug Palmer, acting chaplain for the Norfolk Navy Base. Five men had families in the Norfolk area. The commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet, Adm. Jerome Johnson, who was on board the Iowa, told reporters in Puerto Rico, "The fire and explosion was instantaneous." Cheney indicated the casualties were all in the swiveling gun house at the top of the turret, rather than the mechanical compartments and ammunition magazines below it. Eleven men escaped from powder magazines deep within the ship at the base of the turret. A dozen crew members suffered minor injuries fighting the fire caused by the explosion. They were treated and returned to duty, said Pentagon spokesman Fred Hoffman. At the White House, President Bush brushed aside suggestions that the explosion was due to the age of the Iowa, a World War II leviathan brought out of mothballs during the military buildup of the Reagan administration. Asked about the ship's safety, Bush said he wanted to insure that procedures were checked "to be sure that safety is at the highest point ... but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that because that kind of powder was put into these turrets in that way that makes a useful platform obsolete." Adm. Richard D. Milligan, a former commander of the New Jersey, began the board of inquiry's investigation. Hoffman said he could not predict when the investigation would be completed. Seaquist told reporters, "It seems from the reports that those powders exploded." He referred to the six 110-pound sacks of powder rammed into each gun after it is loaded with a 1,900-pound shell. Seaquist said a pressurized air system that clears debris from the breech at a gun's rear must be operated manually. Each gun has a one-inch diameter tube carrying air under 3,000 pounds of pressure to blow debris from the 62-foot barrel. The only officer killed was Lt. j.g. Phillip Edward Buch from Las Cruces, N.M., who would normally be in a small compartment at the rear of the swivelling top of the turret, adjacent to the room in which shells are loaded. Naval officers familiar with the Iowa said an explosion can occur if a gun breech is cracked, or from a shell that "cooks off" _ ignites prematurely from the heat of the barrel or smoldering debris left in the barrel from the previous round. "The first thing that comes to mind is something like a cook-off," said Hanley. "It could have been a bag or a projectile. We just don't know yet." None of the four battleships of the Iowa class, which saw service in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, has ever sustained such an explosion, Pentagon officials said. Wednesday's explosion brought the worst loss of life for the Navy since a 1977 accident off Spain, in which 49 sailors died when a launch returning them to the USS Guam and the USS Trenton was struck by a Spanish freighter. Except for two World War II Japanese battleships and the current Navy aircraft carriers, the 58,000-ton ships of the Iowa class are the largest warships in the world. 
 Investigators aboard the USS Iowa searched for clues to the cause of a fiery explosion that claimed the lives of 47 sailors as the damaged battleship headed home and grief-stricken families dealt with the loss of their loved ones. Officials refused to speculate publicly on what caused the worst disaster to strike a Navy ship in more than a decade, a blast that ripped through the Iowa's No. 2 gun turret during naval exercises Wednesday in the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico. Although naval gunnery experts combed the vessel Thursday, their task was complicated by the absence of survivors from the swiveling gun housing where the explosion occurred. Eleven men escaped from powder magazines located deep within the ship at the base of the turret. "We have no eyewitnesses to what actually transpired," Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told reporters as he returned to Washington from a NATO meeting in Brussels. The Navy imposed a moratorium on firing 16-inch guns found on the Iowa and its three sister battleships, the New Jersey, the Wisconsin and the Missouri, pending an investigation of the disaster. Adm. Richard D. Milligan, a former commander of the New Jersey, began the board of inquiry's investigation, and Pentagon spokesman Fred Hoffman said he could not predict when the investigation would be completed. As the Iowa headed toward its home port in Norfolk, Va., the flag-draped, metal coffins containing the bodies of the 47 seamen killed arrived at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, site of the largest military mortuary. Navy honor guards carried the coffins off a camouflaged C-5 Galaxy cargo plane. The bodies had been airlifted by helicopter from the Iowa while it was anchored offshore from Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico, and placed on the cargo plane for the flight home. Across the nation, teams of Navy officers and chaplains broke the news to the sailors' next of kin. "It's the greatest tragedy any of us can suffer," said Rear Adm. Jimmy Pappas, the base commander in Norfolk. "It's the most difficult thing you have to do" to tell someone that a loved one has been killed. Ernest Hanyecz Sr., of Bordentown, N.J., stayed up all night trying to get information about his 27-year-old son Ernest before learning Thursday that he was among those killed. "As long as they play their war games, there will be more deaths and innocent people will die," said Hanyecz, whose son joined the Navy at the age of 17. The dead included one officer, Lt. j.g. Phillip Edward Buch, 24, of Las Cruces, N.M., and 46 enlisted men. Most victims were single and from 18 to 22 years old, said Navy officials. A memorial service will be held Monday on the Norfolk base. Adm. Jerome Johnson, the commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet who was aboard the Iowa, said "the fire and explosion was instantaneous." Navy officials aboard the Iowa had scheduled firing 22 rounds. Four rounds were fired from the No. 1 turret and immediately after the commander had given the order to load and prepare the gun in the No. 2 turret, the explosion occurred. Capt. Larry Seaquist, a former captain of the Iowa, told reporters earlier in the day, "It seems from the reports that those powders exploded." Six 110-pound sacks of powder are rammed into each gun after it is loaded with a 1,900-pound shell. Naval officers familiar with the Iowa said an explosion can occur if a gun breech is cracked, but Seaquist stressed, "we simply do not know what caused that powder to go." None of the four battleships of the Iowa class, which saw service in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, had previously experienced such an explosion, Pentagon officials said. Wednesday's explosion brought the worst loss of life for the Navy since a 1977 accident off Spain, in which 49 sailors died when a launch returning them to the USS Guam and the USS Trenton was struck by a Spanish freighter. Except for two World War II Japanese battleships and the current Navy aircraft carriers, the 58,000-ton ships of the Iowa class are the largest warships in the world. 
 The 16-inch guns on the USS Iowa, which can lob a shell the weight of a Volkswagen 23 miles, have an outdated design that is unfit in the nuclear missile age, critics say. "They're old-fashioned and inherently dangerous. They all ought to be eliminated," retired Rear Adm. Eugene LaRocque of the Center for Defense Information said Thursday. "I don't know what more it takes to get people to recognize this ancient technology is no longer appropriate on warships." But the Navy defended the 16-inch gun, the mightiest in use on any ocean, after an explosion killed 47 sailors Wednesday aboard the battleship Iowa while a turret crew loaded gunpowder for target practice. "This gun ... remains the finest naval gun in the world. It was the pinnacle of gun design art, and it is still a front-line system," said Capt. Larry Seaquist, commander of the Iowa until last May. The main criticism is that the big gun requires gunpowder packed in silk bags to fire 16-inch-diameter shells from its 62-foot-long barrel. It works like the breech-loaded guns that roared during the Civil War: A shell is placed into a barrel and then charged with gunpowder in a separate package. In the Iowa's case, 660 pounds of powder _ six 110-pound bags _ is needed to fire a projectile weighing up to 2,700 pounds at a speed of 2,500 feet per second. An electric spark ignites the powder. The extremely flammable silk is supposed to burn away during the burst, but some red-hot debris may remain or explosive gases can build up in the barrel. Air pressurized to 3,000 pounds per square inch can be blown into the breech to clear away debris to guard against a "blowback," which happens when powder ignites before the breech is closed. In newer guns, powder is packed in metal containers. Missiles, the backbone of the modern Navy's attack capability, have integrated propellants. Capt. James Bush of the Center for Defense Information, a private think tank often critical of Pentagon policy, said the Iowa explosion could have been caused by smoldering debris, a blowback or a mishap in the handling of powder. "It wasn't unexpected. It wasn't a surprise. This is dangerous technology. It's archaic," Bush said. "These are the only guns in the Navy that still used bagged powder." The Navy said Thursday that none of the guns in the Iowa turret had been fired before the explosion took place. The Navy also on Thursday placed a moratorium on firing the big guns, found only on the Iowa and its three sister battleships, the New Jersey, the Wisconsin and the Missouri. In a larger sense, critics say the battleships themselves, once the mainstay of gunboat diplomacy, have outlived their purpose. Despite 16-inch-thick armor plating, the battlewagons are vulnerable to submarine and missile attack. The 20-mile range of the 16-inch guns is almost worthless in an era when missiles can be fired at much greater distances. "We can do almost anything with a missile and do it better," Bush said. Battleships reached their heyday in World War I and were intended to fight other ships. The Iowa, first launched in 1942, was the first of an entire class of U.S. battlewagons built to conquer Japan. It supported Marine amphibious landings and shelled shore targets, but the aircraft carrier emerged as the Navy's top weapon because naval battles were waged without ships ever seeing each other. The Iowa also fought off Korea. The Iowa and three sister warships were ordered out of mothballs in the Reagan administration's military buildup six years ago. They were upgraded with Tomahawk cruise missiles, 20mm guns and Harpoon missiles. One of the battleships, the New Jersey, bombarded Syrian and Druze positions in Lebanon as part the U.S. peacekeeping role in 1983. But the 16-inch guns often missed their targets, which the Navy blamed on unreliable powder from World War II. "There was no military need to return these ships to active duty," said the CDI's LaRocque. "Their only military utility is to bombard Third World countries, and the era of gunboat diplomacy is over." 
 The damaged battleship USS Iowa steamed home from Puerto Rico on Friday while investigators on board interviewed crewmen and reviewed an amateur videotape of the explosion that killed 47 sailors. Ens. Karl Johnson, an Atlantic Fleet spokesman, said the Navy would not release the exact position of the ship, which was expected to reach its home port here about 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The Washington Post reported in its Saturday editions that crewmen in the upper chambers of the gun turret were killed by the explosion and fire while sailors working several levels below suffocated when the blast sucked all the oxygen out of the spaces. Navy investigators also said the explosion left two fully loaded gun barrels in the turret, the newspaper reported. The explosion came after two of the three guns had been loaded and just after the crew had been given permission to load and fire the center gun, the newspaper said. After the fire was extinguished, crew men worked quickly to remove the shells and powder from the other two guns before they could explode, the newspaper said. Meanwhile, NBC News reported that the exact cause of the blast in one of the ship's three 16-inch gun turrets on Wednesday may never be known because the destruction inside the turret was so complete. The Navy released photographs of the firefighting effort, which authorities said required two hours to put out the blaze and cool off the turret before anyone could enter it. During the trip home, investigators on board were reviewing a videotape of the turret taken by an Iowa officer who had wanted to record the firing of the big guns when the explosion occurred, said Lt. Cmdr. James Cudler, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the investigators had not decided whether to release the tape to the public. Investigators were also interviewing crew members. Maj. Tom Johnston, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, said he had no information on the cause of death of the 47 crewmen.Navy officials have refused to speculate on the cause of the explosion. In Norfolk, memorial services for the 47 victims are tentatively set for 9 a.m. Monday. President George Bush is to attend. Johnson said the ship is steaming under its own power, and repeated the Navy's daily report that the ship is seaworthy and in no danger. The 887-foot, 58,000-ton battleship has armor up to 17{ inches thick. Navy officials have said that the explosion in the No. 2 gun turret damaged only the turret. The top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday the panel will hold hearings on the fiery explosion. The explosion occurred during open seas gun practice 300 miles north of Puerto Rico. The Pentagon said the blast ripped through the middle gun of the three-gun turret, and that that gun had not been fired prior to the explosion. The Pentagon has ordered that no 16-inch gun will be fired until the investigation is complete. Ships with those guns _ the battleships Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin _ were built during World War II. Some critics have said the 16-inch guns are outmoded and dangerous. 
 Hundreds of people gathered to honor the 47 sailors who died on the USS Iowa as victims of a tragedy that "reaches into little towns all over the country." "Words are never sufficient at a time like this to express the feelings that we share," Norfolk Mayor Joseph Leafe told the more than 750 people who came to Friday's memorial at the Elizabeth River waterfront. The 58,000-ton battleship was steaming toward its home port here and was to arrive Sunday. Meanwhile, Navy investigators on board studied an amateur videotape for clues into Wednesday's explosion in the ship's No. 2 gun turret. Lt. Cmdr. James Cudler, a Pentagon spokesman, said the explosion occurred as an Iowa officer was making a videotape to record the firing of the ship's big guns. Cudler said Navy officials had not decided whether to release the tape publicly. Crewmen in the upper chambers of the gun turret were killed by the explosion and fire while sailors working several levels below suffocated when the blast sucked out all the oxygen, according to a report in today's editions of The Washington Post. Maj. Tom Johnston, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, said he had no information on the causes of death. The explosion came after two of the three guns had been loaded and just after the crew had been given permission to load and fire the center gun, the newspaper said. After the fire was extinguished, crewmen worked quickly to remove the shells and powder from the other two guns, the newspaper said. NBC News reported Friday that the exact cause of the explosion may never be known because the devastation inside the turret was so complete. The top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the panel will hold hearings on the fiery explosion. The Pentagon has ordered the 16-inch guns on all four World War II-era battleships silenced until the investigation is finished. Some critics have said the 16-inch guns are outmoded and dangerous. Jim Smith, 63, of Norfolk, said he attended the memorial because he considered the dead men his shipmates. "I served aboard the battleship North Carolina in 1946. I know about those big guns .... I know these things can happen," he said. "At times like this, everyone seems to pull together. We become one family." Joan Taplett, wife of a Navy commander, said she brought her 3-year-old son so he would always remember the men who died. "I'm from South Dakota. ... When I heard that one of the men killed was from there, I had to come," she said. "I guess I'm here for his parents. Something like this touches all of us ... It reaches into little towns all over the country," she said. David L. Hanson, a 23-year-old electrician's mate 3rd class from Bison, S.D., population 457, was among those killed. A wreath of 47 yellow carnations was cast into the river, a Norfolk police honor guard gave a 21-gun salute and a Navy bugler played taps at the 15-minute ceremony. "On the USS Iowa, 47 young men died too soon ... We will remember, and honor and grieve as a nation," Gov. Gerald L. Baliles said. The Navy is planning a ceremony for the crew and family members Monday morning at Norfolk Naval Base, with President Bush scheduled to attend. 
 The scarred battleship USS Iowa made a somber return Sunday to its home port, where about 3,000 family members and friends of the crew welcomed loved ones who escaped an explosion that killed 47 sailors. Sailors in whites with black arm bands lined the rails as the huge vessel docked at the Norfolk Naval Base's Pier 5 at 5:41 p.m., just one minute later than Navy officials had estimated. Twenty minutes later, families started filing aboard the ship, exchanging tearful embraces with the returning sailors. "They wanted to get here on schedule and were anxious to get home," said Capt. Steven Karalekas. The explosion Wednesday flashed through the Iowa's No. 2 gun turret, which extends six decks down into the ship. There were 11 survivors inside the turret, all on the lowest deck loading powder from the ship's magazines, the Navy said. Two of the surviving crewmen of No. 2 turret stood on top of the fire-blackened turret as the ship pulled into the pier, with full crews on the ship's two other turrets, the Navy said. The No. 2 turret was in the same position as when the explosion occurred, facing right with the left and right guns elevated. The center gun, where the blast occurred, was depressed. When the 887-foot vessel first appeared there were scattered cheers by those on the dock, but all remained silent as the ship pulled into the pier. The somber mood was heightened by the lack of bands, and few waves were exchanged as the ship docked. Adm. Powell Carter, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, was on the dock to greet the vessel. As it docked, three Marines raised a flag to half-mast at the stern of the ship. The Navy kept the news media about 300 yards from the families, and reporters were not allowed to talk with the families or the crewmen. The violence and power of the turret explosion was shown in an amateur videotape released by the Navy on Sunday. The tape was made by an officer on the bridge of the Iowa who wanted to record the firing of the big guns. The detonation, which appears to blast away the gasket-like rubber "bloomers" that seal the turret's gun slits, is followed by a jet of intense fire and thick smoke from the front and base of the gunhouse. The videotape cut immediately to damage control firefighters spraying heavy streams of water onto the turret. Throughout the Norfolk area, churches dedicated prayers Sunday morning to the families of Iowa crewmen. "We have lost 47 of our number in a tragic way," said Cmdr. John L. Fitzgerald, a chaplain, in a service at the Norfolk Naval Air Station. "Our faith helps us to handle what science cannot answer, the mystery of death." A red rose, a yellow ribbon with the number 47 on it and a book containing the names of the dead were taken to the altar. Fitzgerald said the Iowa tragedy and that of a recently lost Soviet submarine "put political differences aside and unite the human family as one." On Monday morning, President Bush will lead a memorial service in a base hangar that can accommodate 3,000 people. The families of the victims were invited, but Navy officials said they did not know how many would attend. None of the victims listed the Norfolk area as their hometown. The explosion occurred during exercises off Puerto Rico. The Pentagon said it happened before the middle 16-inch gun of the three-gun turret had been fired. The guns, the largest on any ship at sea, use six 110-pound bags of black powder to fire a 2,700-pound projectile up to 23 miles. The Navy has refused to speculate on the cause of the explosion, which damaged only the inside of the turret. But Navy teams who entered the turret immediately after the blast found the No. 2 gun's breech open and undamaged, with the practice projectile that the gun was to have fired still there, The New York Times reported Sunday. This indicated the explosion occurred while the powder bags were still being loaded into the gun, the Times said, citing unidentified sources. Navy gunnery officers believe the explosion occurred when the bags were being transferred from a powder hoist to the gun, the newspaper said. They said flame and hot gases from the blast went down the hoist to the lowest deck; if the transfer of powder to the guns had been complete, the hoist would have been sealed off. The Iowa and its sister ships, the battleships Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin, were commissioned during World War II and mothballed after the Korean War. They were recommissioned by the Reagan administration in the 1980s. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Sunday that the administration plans to keep all four battleships in the fleet despite the explosion. "They are effective, they were relatively cheap to bring back into the service compared to new ships, they are good cruise missile platforms, so I think they do have a role to play," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Critics have charged that the battleship's 16-inch guns are antiquated and dangerous; gunners say they are among the most accurate available. 
 Navy investigators will be looking at all possibilities of human or mechanical error in their effort to determine what caused the explosion that killed 47 aboard the battleship USS Iowa, officials say. It could take months before the probe is completed and the results released publicly, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Alan Dooley said Sunday. A seven-member team of investigators boarded the battleship a day after the explosion flashed through the Iowa's No. 2 gun turret on Wednesday. "They're looking at any evidence of human error or mechanical error, or anything technical," said Lt. Janet Mescus, a spokeswoman at the Navy's information center at Norfolk, Va., the ship's home port. The Iowa returned to Norfolk on Sunday. "They're moving as quickly as they can," Lt. Mescus said, but added, "They want to be thorough and that takes time." Dooley said the investigation would be "fairly complex" because there were no witnesses. There were 11 survivors inside the turret, all on the lowest deck loading powder from the ship's magazines, the Navy said. Dooley said no information would be released until the probe is completed, and the Navy has refused to speculate on the cause of the explosion, which damaged only the inside of the turret. But The New York Times reported Sunday that Navy teams who entered the turret immediately after the blast found the No. 2 gun's breech open and undamaged, with the practice projectile that the gun was to have fired still there. The Times cited unidentified sources as saying this indicated the explosion occurred while the bags containing 550 pounds of propellant powder were still being loaded into the gun. Navy gunnery officers believe the explosion occurred when the bags were being transferred from a powder hoist to the gun, the newspaper said. They said flame and hot gases from the blast went down the hoist to the lowest deck; if the transfer of powder to the guns had been complete, the hoist would have been sealed off. The Navy on Sunday released an amateur videotape of the explosion, which was made by an officer on the bridge of the Iowa who wanted to record the firing of the guns. The investigation team is headed by Rear Adm. Richard D. Milligan, former commanding officer of the battleship USS New Jersey, and it also includes experts on gunnery and weapons. 
 Thousands of grieving friends and relatives of the fallen 47 crewmen from the battleship USS Iowa gathered quietly Monday and heard President Bush praise their loved ones as "brothers in eternity." "We join today in mourning for the 47 who perished, and in fact, for the 11 who survived," the president told a packed memorial service at Norfolk Naval Air Station. "They all were, in the words of a poet, `the men behind the guns.' "They came from Hidalgo, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; Tampa, Florida; Costa Mesa, California. They came to the Navy as strangers, served the Navy as shipmates and friends, and left the Navy as brothers in eternity. In the finest Navy tradition, they served proudly on a great battleship, the USS Iowa." The president, a World War II Navy pilot, said he was proud to recommission the Iowa in 1984 and said it had earned 11 battle stars in two wars. But with the still-unexplained fire and explosion last Wednesday in the battleship's No. 2 gun turret, he said, "Fate has written a sorrowful chapter in the history of this great ship." The Iowa's commander, Capt. Fred P. Moosally, said the turret's crew was the best gun crew on the ship, and called its chief _ Chief Gunner's Mate Reginald Owen Ziegler of Port Gibson, N.Y. _ "my No. 1 chief." Victims' relatives and hundreds of sailors and officers in dress blues were among the 6,000 people crowded into a hangar for the service. A bouquet of red roses was placed in front of the podium; behind were an American flag and the battleship's banners. Outside, another 2,000 people listened to the service on loudspeakers. As many as 500 Iowa crewmen were unable to attend the service because they were delayed by traffic and were not permitted to enter the hangar because of security measures to protect Bush. Many were angry they could not attend, said Machinist's Mate David Finn, 38. "It was very important to them," Finn said. The service came a day after the World War II-era battleship eased into its home port, its gun barrels scorched and its 1,500 crewmen at the rails in white uniforms and black armbands in memory of their dead shipmates. Moosally told the crowd of mourners that he remembered the men of turret No. 2. "I remember their faces as they toiled at their guns, sweating an honest sweat that comes from young men dedicated to a great cause," he said. "I remember as they talked among themselves, looking so much like sailors of the past, sharing the exuberance of the times and the dreams of the future," he said. "They were the life, the spirit and the soul of our ship. ... They made the ultimate sacrifice for us. ... The men of Turret Two will be part of the spirit of the Iowa forever." Bush recounted seeing the Iowa off the coast of the Philippines as a naval aviator in World War II, and the great sense of confidence the big ship lent to the fleet. Addressing the children of the victims, he said: "You must never forget that your father was America's pride." At the end of the service, while the Navy Hymn was played, President and Mrs. Bush greeted and consoled the families of the lost men. After the 45-minute service, the families attended a private reception with Moosally. The Navy said 45 victims' families attended the service. At a press briefing following the reception, Moosally praised the hundreds of men who fought the fire for their courage. "God gave birth to 500 heroes," the captain said. "Fire on a ship is the most terrifying fear ... you have nowhere to run. "Our extensive training paid off," he said. "Besides the firefighting crews, we had cooks, engineers, deck seamen, Marines all fighting to save the ship." Moosally said the blast occurred just as he was turning to Vice Adm. Jerome Johnson, commander of the 2nd Fleet, to tell him to watch the No. 2 turret because it contained his best crew. "This was my best turret," Moosally said. He said turret chief Ziegler "was the most meticulous of men. He was my No. 1 chief of the 84 chiefs aboard. "Nobody in that turret did anything unless they were qualified," Moosally said. Moosally refused to give a definite answer to reporters' questions about whether the damaged turret could be repaired, saying the battleship could operate without it if necessary. All but 11 men in the huge gun turret died almost instantly last Wednesday when the explosion ripped through it. At the time, the Iowa was conducting open seas gun exercises off Puerto Rico. The Navy said the investigation into the blast is continuing. Navy officials have refused to speculate on the cause of the explosion. Cmdr. John P. Morse, the Iowa's weapons officer, said the guns were thoroughly inspected the morning of the accident, and Moosally said he had no hesitation about the guns' safety. "I'll be in the turret for the first shot to go off," the captain said. One of the survivors, Gunner's Mate 3rd Class Kendall L. Truitt, 21, of Tampa, Fla., said that at first the men down in the powder magazine in the lowest level of the turret didn't know anything was wrong. "We were waiting for the gun to fire, and we weren't sure," he said. When the men discovered that no one was answering the interior turret communications link, Truitt ordered the powder returned to the magazine and the compartment evacuated. The sailors found smoke everywhere as they climbed through hatches and up ladders outside the turret toward the sea deck, Truitt recalled. "My first thought was that I'd better get to a lifeboat station, because if the fire got to the magazine things would be bad," he said. 
 Here are highlights of Lucille Ball's career: 1911 _ Born Aug. 6, 1911, in Jamestown N.Y., the daughter of an electrician and concert pianist Desiree Ball. 1926 _ Begins career in show business in New York as a chorus girl. 1933 _ Goes to Hollywood as movie showgirl for RKO, later becoming a successful actress appearing in more than 75 films. 1940 _ Marries Desi Arnaz, a Cuban percussionist and bandleader when both were making the movie "Too Many Girls." 1951 _ They form Desilu Productions with $5,000 and "I Love Lucy" begins its historic six-year domination of television comedy. Earlier in the year, they have their first child. 1953 _ "I Love Lucy" episode in which Lucy Ricardo gives birth to Little Ricky is telecast the same day that Lucille Ball, in real life, gives birth to second child, Desi Jr. 1957 _ Desilu purchases RKO studios and begins producing other programs. 1960 _ The Arnazes divorce, with Desi selling his share of the studio to Lucy for $3 million. 1961 _ Miss Ball marries night-club comic Gary Morton, who becomes her executive producer. 1962 _ Miss Ball goes solo, returning to the airwaves in "The Lucy Show." 1967 _ Miss Ball sells company to Gulf & Western for $18 million. 1968 _ "The Lucy Show" is redesigned and becomes "Here's Lucy." It runs until 1974. 1974 _ Miss Ball plays the title role in the movie version of "Mame." 1985 _ In her first serious dramatic role in years, Miss Ball plays a New York bag lady in the CBS-TV movie "Stone Pillow." She is hospitalized for dehydration following strenuous work on the film. 1986 _ Miss Ball returns to sitcom television in ABC's "Life With Lucy." The show is canceled within months. 
 The actor who played Little Ricky on the "I Love Lucy" show said Wednesday he spent more time with Lucille Ball than he did with his own family in the five years he played the comedian's TV son. Miss Ball died of a ruptured aorta at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles Wednesday morning, hospital officials said. She was 77. "She was old and, of course, I knew about the heart attack, so I was not shocked by her death," said Keith Thibodeaux, who at age 6 began playing Miss Ball's drum-playing son on the comedy series that continues in syndication around the world. "I'm sure all this is going to hit me a little later on." Thibodeaux grew up on the set, playing Little Ricky from 1956 until 1961 under Miss Ball's watchful eye. "I think the thing I remember most about Lucy was that she was very much in control of everything," said Thibodeaux, who began playing the drums at age 2, was a professional drummer at age 4 and is now drummer with David and the Giants, a Christian rock group. He lives in Jackson with his wife, Kathy, a ballerina. Thibodeaux, 38, said he got his break in show business when big band leader Horace Heidt persuaded his father to bring him from Lafayette, La., to California for the "Swift Premium Hour," a traveling radio show that led to a string of one-night stands across the country. That led to an audition for the "I Love Lucy" role in Hollywood. "I remember Lucy saying, `that's him,' and from that time I was Little Ricky," said Thibodeaux, who then used the name Richard Keith. "I signed a seven-year contract with the studio in 1956 and the first episode I was in was aired that December with Bob Hope _ I just turned 6." Thibodeaux said that during the series' run he spent as much time with Miss Ball as with his own family in Lafayette. "And I spent more time with her off the set at her home than at the studio," he said. "I remember her as very strict but with a lot of love. She had her ways but despite all, she was a great person, very, very talented. "I know everybody remembers her as zany and wacky but that was only on the show. Actually, she was just the opposite and was very serious. ... That's what made her a great actress." He said Miss Ball often gave him gifts and that he remembers spending at least one Christmas at her home. "I remember she once gave me an Indian tepee, then my own dressing room," he said. "She gave me bicycles and an identical set of drums." 
 Lucille Ball was mourned Wednesday by the western New York hometown she left for Hollywood more than half a century ago. "It is a sad day for all of us. But I'm sure that feeling is shared by many people around the world," said Nelson Garifi, organizer of a homecoming for Miss Ball that was to have been held next month. "She was always so full of life," said Pauline Lopus, who went to school with Miss Ball and had kept in touch with her. "It seemed like she would just go on forever." The 77-year-old comedian died of a ruptured aorta, the main heart artery, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she was recovering from emergency heart surgery last week. The American Heart Association's Jamestown office was deluged with calls from Miss Ball's fans who wanted to make a memorial donation, officials said. "We just can't process as many memorials as we've received," said office manager Nathan Lax. Miss Ball was born Aug. 6, 1911, in this city of 40,000 people about 60 miles south of Buffalo, the daughter of an electrician and a concert pianist. She grew up in nearby Celoron, a rural hamlet on Chautauqua Lake. Friends said some of the characteristics of her most famous role _ the zany, excitable star of television's "I Love Lucy" _ were evident during her childhood. Mrs. Lopus said Miss Ball dreamed of fame, either as a dramatic actress in New York City or as a dancing girl in musicals. At age 15, she worked as a barker at a local amusement park, screaming pitches for popcorn and hot dogs until she lost her voice. In high school, she starred in high school plays and made her first appearance before a large audience at the now-defunct Palace Theater here. As a model, she caught Hollywood's eye and in 1933, she was off to Hollywood. Although the comedian hadn't visited Jamestown since 1956 and had no family there, she regularly donated money to charities, civic events and Jamestown Community College, said Mayor Steven Carlson. Miss Ball was to have received an honorary degree from the college at the homecoming scheduled for May 20. Residents had hung posters saying "Jamestown Loves Lucy" in storefronts and house windows. After she fell ill last week, residents signed the posters and sent them to her as a get-well greeting. They sent more than 150 posters with 10,000 signatures. The honorary degree will be awarded posthumously, said Garifi, who is community relations director at the college. Celoron had planned to rename a street in Miss Ball's honor during her visit, and still plans to rename it as Lucy Lane, said John Goodell of Celoron's Historical Society. Goodell said that when the group was formed about a year ago, "We sent an invitation to Lucille Ball to be a member, and she sent back a check for $500 for a life membership." 
 Lucille Ball, the daffy comedian whose harebrained schemes drove her television family crazy but delighted viewers for four decades, died Wednesday of a ruptured abdominal artery. She was 77. The actress, star of the hugely popular "I Love Lucy" and related situation comedies seen in more than 80 countries, had undergone major heart surgery April 18. She had been recovering steadily, getting out of bed and joking with the staff, but shortly before dawn Wednesday, she went into cardiac arrest due to internal bleeding and could not be revived, said Cedars-Sinai Medical Center spokesman Ronald Wise. She suffered a complete heart failure at 5 a.m. and 47 minutes of resuscitation efforts proved fruitless, Wise said. "There was nothing to indicate this would happen," Wise said. "The heart itself apparently was not involved in Miss Ball's sudden death." In the 6{-hour surgery at Cedars-Sinai, doctors replaced her aorta and aortic valve. Although the replaced portion of Miss Ball's aorta did not apparently fail, the entire artery was in poor condition when she was operated upon, said Dr. Robert Kass. Kass, who performed the operation, said at the time the tearing in Miss Ball's aorta "progressed all the way down into her abdomen." Miss Ball, with her fire-engine red hair and siren wail, was considered the queen of situation comedy and a pioneer of the sitcom format. "I and 100 million others will miss her," said comedian George Burns. "But we haven't lost Lucille Ball because she's still with us on television and we can see her on and on." "Lucille Ball possessed the gift of laughter. But she also embodied an even greater treasure _ the gift of love," President Bush said in a statement. "She appealed to the gentler impulses of the human spirit. She was not merely an actress or comedienne. She was Lucy and she was loved." "Her red hair, her antics on the screen, her timing and her zest for life made her an American institution," former President and Nancy Reagan said in a statement. "Just the mention of her name brings a smile. ... We love Lucy and will miss her deeply." "It's a shock after working very closely with her and loving her for over 35 years," said Miss Ball's frequent sidekick, Gale Gordon, who was in Edmonton, Alberta. While in the hospital, the comedian was deluged with thousands of cards, letters, flowers and phone calls from fans as far away as Australia and Europe. Miss Ball and her late former husband, Desi Arnaz, starred in "I Love Lucy" from 1951 to 1957 and have been seen since in widely syndicated reruns. The late Vivian Vance and William Frawley played their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz. Her split-second timing, wide-mouthed wails and exaggerated pratfalls made the "I Love Lucy" show one of the most popular in television history. Bridge clubs and bowling teams changed their meeting nights to watch Lucy and Ethel cook up still another ridiculous scheme that would push their long-suffering husbands to exasperation. Miss Ball's real, onscreen pregnancy marked a milestone in television, and an estimated 44 million viewers _ more than for the inauguration of President Eisenhower _ tuned in on Jan. 19, 1953, to watch Lucy Ricardo have Little Ricky. The real birth occurred just four hours before the previously-filmed show was broadcast. Miss Ball's singularity as a comedian was matched by her talent as a show-business entrepreneur. She and Arnaz established one of TV's first major independent studios. Desilu, as their production company was called, made some of the top comedy shows of the 1950s and '60s, including "December Bride," "Our Miss Brooks" and "Make Room for Daddy." As testament to their value as prime-time stars, Miss Ball and Arnaz signed an $8 million, no-cancellation, two-year contract with CBS in 1953 _ the largest in television history at the time and a figure scarcely any TV star can touch today. The couple stopped making weekly "I Love Lucy" shows in 1957. Despite riches and two children, Lucie and Desi Jr., their marriage foundered, and the couple divorced in 1960. In 1961, Miss Ball married nightclub comic Gary Morton, who became her executive producer, and remained on TV for 12 more years in the weekly "Here's Lucy" and "The Lucy Show." Miss Ball was born Aug. 6, 1911, in Jamestown, N.Y., the daughter of an electrician and a concert pianist. Young Lucy, a brunette, was dazzled by the stage, but her ambitions were discouraged by an acting school _ "They sent my mother a letter saying she was wasting her money," Miss Ball once said _ and she turned to modeling under the name Diane Belmont. Her ads for Chesterfield cigarettes caught Hollywood's eye, and in 1933 she went to California. As a blonde, she appeared with the Marx Brothers in "Room Service," with Fred Astaire in "Follow the Fleet" and with Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers in "Stage Door." In all, she appeared in more than 75 movies. In 1940, her tresses colored the fiery trademark red, Miss Ball met Arnaz, a rumba star. They married within six months. In 1951, when CBS decided to move her radio series, "My Favorite Husband," to television, Miss Ball insisted that Arnaz be her co-star. But the network wasn't sure Arnaz would be a hit with the American public. The couple went on a nationwide vaudeville tour and proved audiences would watch a leggy, blue-eyed comedian and a Cuban-born band leader with a heavy accent. They also produced their own pilot episode on borrowed money. CBS relented, and "I Love Lucy" was an immediate success. The show revolutionized television sitcom production in the days before videotape. It was filmed in advance before a live audience, employing three cameras instead of the traditional one used for motion pictures. The actress was last seen at the 61st Academy Awards ceremony March 29, where the svelte actress received a standing ovation and laughed freely throughout her brief bit with Bob Hope. Her last series _ "Life with Lucy," once again co-starring Gordon _ was carried by ABC at the start of the 1986 season. But the show, her first series in 12 years, was canceled after less than two months when it drew spectacularly low ratings. She "felt terrible. ... It really devastated her," daughter Lucie Arnaz said at the time. Miss Ball also played a bag lady in the 1985 TV movie "Stone Pillow," considered one of the most challenging roles of her career. She was hospitalized for dehydration when it was over, but the movie was a minor critical and ratings success. Just this month, Miss Ball had signed a deal for a reported $750,000 with Putnam to publish her autobiography. Said CBS Chairman William Paley: "Lucille Ball will always be the first lady of CBS. ... Lucy's extraordinary ability to light up the screen and brighten our lives is a legacy that will last forever." Funeral arrangements were pending. 
 Actor Gale Gordon, a sidekick of Lucille Ball from radio days who appeared with her in three television series, recalled on Wednesday how the comedian never thought of herself as particularly funny. "Oh, but when she told a story or recalled an event that happened she always illustrated it with her body and her face," the 83-year-old Gordon said in a telephone interview. "She never saw it, but she was extremely amusing." Gordon, who is appearing in a play in Edmonton, spent the day in an Edmonton hotel room, mourning the death of Lucille Ball in a Los Angeles hospital Wednesday at age 77 and quietly remembering his funny friend. "The world will miss her greatly," the actor said. "I personally will remember her as the best talent of her kind in the world ... a wonderful, warm friend and a bit of a genius _ the only one I've ever really known." In his first television series alongside Miss Ball, Gordon was the flustered banker Mr. Mooney in "The Lucy Show" from 1962-68. The next six years saw him as Harrison Carter on "Here's Lucy." They were reunited briefly in 1986 for the short-lived "Life With Lucy." Gordon first met Miss Ball in 1947 on the radio program "My Favorite Husband," which later became "I Love Lucy" on television. "I thought she was a very good-looking young woman, and very talented," he recalled. "She was very pleasant to work with. None of us knew what was going to happen _ television was very young then and it wasn't taken too seriously. We never dreamed it would ever become the power it was ... and the great stars it would produce." Gordon last spoke to Miss Ball from Edmonton on his birthday, Feb. 20, when "she called to wish me a happy birthday as she has done for years and years." Gordon has done regular stints for years at a chain of Edmonton-based dinner theatres called Stage West. He is currently appearing with that company's Mayfair Dinner Theatre as a priest in the play "Mass Appeal." The play has another month to run and Gordon says that means he won't be able to attend Miss Ball's funeral. "I couldn't do that because it would put people out of work," he said. "She would be the first one to scream her head off if I did that." 
 Bob Thomas has covered Hollywood for The Associated Press for 45 years. She never knew how great she was. Amid the blimp-size egos of the entertainment world, Lucille Ball stood out like an orange beacon. She never bragged. She never exercised her considerable power. She always seemed astonished, even embarrassed, when honors inevitably came her way. When she was to receive a humanitarian award from Variety Clubs on a CBS special five years ago, she told me: "There comes a time in your life when you get a lot of plaques. It's very flattering and I'll go along with it, especially if it benefits children." Whenever she was praised for "I Love Lucy," she invariably replied: "Well, all of the credit should go to (writers) Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr." Or, "Desi was a genius: He was responsible for the show's success." Or she cited co-stars Desi, Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley. Yes, the writing and producing and casting of "I Love Lucy" were marvelous, but Lucy's performance added the quantum force. Her inspired pantomime could be written by no one: the growing panic as the chocolate assembly line speeded up; her catalog of pained expressions after tasting the patent medicine she was demonstrating. Unlike many stars, Lucille Ball rarely indulged in self-analysis. But on one occasion she revealed why her feelings about the "I Love Lucy" triumph might have been ambivalent: Living through the last five years of the show, she said, "took the edge off any enjoyment I might have had. Desi's drinking and carousing were a terrible embarrassment, bad for a woman's self-esteem. The talk around town was `poor Lucy.' Because I couldn't face people, I became a recluse for more than 5{ years. "I never demonstrated my unhappiness at the studio, and actually, working together was a blessing. Desi had everything so well organized that it was easy to do the work." Lucy was late in reaching her comedy potential. She was 40 when "I Love Lucy" started on CBS and revolutionized television. And although she spent many years in Hollywood, "none of the studios ever designed comedies for me the way MGM did for Red Skelton, Paramount did for Bob Hope and Sam Goldwyn did for Danny Kaye," she once said. "Television was the medium for me, the medium for anyone who wanted to be well known a lot faster than waiting a year and a half for a movie to come out," she said in an interview late in life. "Television is an instant barometer, especially the way we did it. "It was all new. Nobody knew anything about television. Nobody was there to say, `No, don't do that, it's wrong!' We never knew what was wrong and what was right. We were all feeling our way. Desi was very innovative and very showmanship-conscious and was very intent on going ahead and doing it: `That sounds all right, let's go!' So we went." Always the credit to someone else. But millions upon millions of television watchers know otherwise. 
 As a young girl in western New York, Lucille Ball hawked hot dogs and popcorn at an amusement park as she dreamed of starring in movies, hometown friends recalled. "She always talked about being a star," said Pauline Lopus, who went to school with Miss Ball and had kept in touch with her. Miss Ball, born 60 miles south of Buffalo in Jamestown on Aug. 6, 1911, grew up in nearby Celoron, a rural hamlet on Chautauqua Lake. Mrs. Lopus remembered the sitcom star on Wednesday as "daring in many ways." "She tried to get me to run off (to Broadway)," Mrs. Lopus added. "But I didn't have the nerve." At 15, Miss Ball worked as a barker at the amusement park, screaming for people to buy popcorn and hot dogs until she lost her voice. Later, she starred in high school plays and got her start in front of a large audience on the vaudeville stage at the defunct Palace Theater in Jamestown. Although Miss Ball hadn't visited Jamestown since 1956 and had no family there, she stayed in touch with friends. "Even though she was a big star, she was still just Lucy to us," said Irene Rosseti of Celoron. Mrs. Rosseti said Miss Ball recently sent her and her husband a letter on their 50th wedding anniversary. Miss Ball regularly donated money to charities, civic events and Jamestown Community College, said Jamestown Mayor Steven Carlson. On May 20, Miss Ball was to receive an honorary degree from the college and had planned to return to Jamestown, now a city of about 40,000. Residents had put up posters saying "Jamestown Loves Lucy" in storefronts and home windows. After Miss Ball suffered a heart attack last week, residents decided to sign the posters and send them to her as a get-well greeting. More than 150 posters were sent with 10,000 signatures. The 77-year-old comedian died Wednesday of a ruptured aorta, the main heart artery, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she was recovering from last week's emergency heart surgery. "It is a sad day for all of us," said Nelson Garifi, an organizer of the welcoming event. "But I'm sure that feeling is shared by many people around the world." Garifi, community relations director for the community college, said the honorary degree will be awarded posthumously. Future generations in Celoron will have a reminder of their famous resident every time they drive or walk down the street where she grew up _ it will be renamed Lucy Lane. Village officials had planned formal ceremonies renaming the street when she was due in the area next month. "But it will happen anyway," John Goodell of the village's historical society said Wednesday. When the society was formed about a year ago, Goodell said: "We sent an invitation to Lucille Ball to be a member, and she sent back a check for $500 for a life membership. "It was a check written in a very bold hand with a signature about a half inch high." 
 An outpouring of sympathy from presidents to childhood neighbors followed the death of Lucille Ball, but many said the queen mother of comedy will live on through television reruns and her influence on comedy. The daffy, redheaded comedian whose harebrained schemes drove her television family crazy and delighted viewers for four decades died Wednesday of a ruptured abdominal artery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was 77 and died eight days after emergency heart surgery. A private burial was planned, reportedly with no funeral services in accordance with Miss Ball's wishes. "God has her now, and, thanks to television, we'll have her forever," said comedian and longtime friend Bob Hope. Hospital switchboards were swamped with condolence calls and thousands of cards after Miss Ball's death, spokesman Ron Wise said. Miss Ball's family requested that any flowers sent to the Medical Center in her memory be distributed to other patients. Miss Ball maintained her sense of humor even when she was critically ill. Following her operation last week, her first words to her daughter, Lucie, were: "Wouldn't you know _ this is the day I was going to get my hair done." Miss Ball had been improving steadily from the heart surgery, so her death came as a shock. "She had been walking, her spirits were up. Her family was with her," Wise said. "She responded as well as anyone could respond to that kind of surgery." He said she woke up early Wednesday complaining about a sudden pain in her back, and in a matter of seconds went into a full cardiac arrest that was caused by a ruptured aorta. Miss Ball and her late former husband, Desi Arnaz, starred in "I Love Lucy" from 1951 to 1957. In the ground-breaking show, still seen in syndication worldwide, the late Vivian Vance and William Frawley played their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz. "Probably a lot of what she did rubbed off on what I do," said actress-comedian Jane Curtin, star of the sitcom "Kate and Allie." "But it couldn't be helped, because I memorized her shows." The show, one of the most popular in television history, was distinguished by Miss Ball's faultless timing, rubber-faced expressions, wide-mouthed wails and extravagant pratfalls. "Working with Lucy was like receiving an M.A. or a Ph.D. in comedy," recalled Joan Rivers. "What she forgot about comic timing and delivery is more than most of us will ever learn in a lifetime." Comedian Whoopi Goldberg said: "Lucy was great because she represented every person. She showed us human foibles and gave us a chance to laugh at ourselves." Miss Goldberg said her favorite episode involved a visit by the "I Love Lucy" characters to Hollywood, where Lucy and Ethel spotted actor William Holden in a restaurant. "That was how we would all react to seeing a movie star in a restaurant," Miss Goldberg said. "She was looking at him in a compact mirror, and trying to look at him surreptitiously. And that's just an example of how everyone can identify with Lucy." Bob Rosati, who lives down the street from the Beverly Hills home Miss Ball shared with husband Gary Morton, said he was watching a rerun of "I Love Lucy" on Wednesday morning when the screen went black and the words "In Memory of Lucille Ball, 1911-1989" appeared. "I felt I had lost someone in my family. I couldn't believe it," said Rosati, 40. "I was watching Lucy like I do every morning. She's one of the most-admired ladies in this town." He was among a group of fans who stood reverently outside Miss Ball's home on Roxbury Drive as florists delivered baskets of flowers to the house. Tour vans passed by in a non-stop procession. On Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame, flower arrangements were placed on Miss Ball's two stars _ one for her film work, one for television. Budd Friedman, owner of the Improvisation comedy clubs, said, "The world of comedy has lost its first lady. Her death is an irreparable loss ... to our industry." Actor Danny DeVito recalled getting a personal congratulation from Miss Ball in 1981 when he won an Emmy for the TV series "Taxi." "It made it like it had been blessed," he recalled. Admirers included President Bush, in Southern California at the time of Miss Ball's passing, and former President Reagan. "Her red hair, her antics on the screen, her timing and her zest for life made her an American institution," the former president and Nancy Reagan said in a statement. "Just the mention of her name brings a smile. ... We love Lucy and will miss her deeply." "Lucille Ball possessed the gift of laughter," Bush said. "But she also embodied an even greater treasure _ the gift of love. She appealed to the gentler impulses of the human spirit. She was not merely an actress or comedienne. She was Lucy and she was loved." "To baby boomers, a happy chunk of our childhood is missing," said "Saturday Night Live" comedian Victoria Jackson, who was born two years after "I Love Lucy" went off the air as a regular series. "She didn't make me laugh out loud, I remember, she just made me happy about life." Said comic Tim Conway: "We're going to miss this lady, but not really, because she's still here. All those wonderful things they did together ... those wonderful TV shows ... are still available." Although Miss Ball hadn't visited her hometown of Jamestown, N.Y, since 1956 and had no family there, she had stayed in touch with friends. Irene Rosseti, who now lives in Celoron, N.Y., said Miss Ball recently had sent her and her husband a letter on their 50th wedding anniversary. "Even though she was a big star, she was still just Lucy to us," she recalled. Hospital spokesman Wise said that the family has asked that donations be sent to the Lucille Ball Foundation, in care of Irella-Manella, 1800 Ave. of the Stars, Suite 900, Los Angeles, Ca. 90067. 
 Thousands of Lucille Ball's fans shed tears for the woman who made them laugh, as three cities held memorial services in which the redheaded comedian was remembered with prayers and applause. "She was a whole package. There never will be another one like her. I love her," said a tearful Carol Burnett following a memorial Mass in suburban Santa Monica. More than a thousand people who packed the St. Monica's Catholic Church rose to their feet and clapped for several minutes after television minister the Rev. Robert Schuller asked them to "applaud the Lord for Lucille Ball." About 1,000 people also crowded a church in New York and 200 gathered in a Chicago church. All three memorial Masses began at 8 p.m. Monday, the time Miss Ball's three most popular programs were often broadcast. The 77-year-old comedian who starred in one of television's biggest all-time hits, "I Love Lucy," died here April 26 of a ruptured aorta, a major blood vessel, eight days after emergency open-heart surgery. Miss Ball, known for her honed comedic timing, wide-mouthed expressions and wacky antics, was popular among generations of fans who watched "I Love Lucy" as a first-run show in the '50s and in three decades of reruns. "She showed her love in the only way she knew how, by making you laugh," the Rev. James Fox told those gathered for the Roman Catholic Mass at St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. Broadcaster Diane Sawyer told the crowd that the death of Miss Ball may have settled a longstanding theological debate over whether there is laughter in heaven. "A God who would have created her would never let her laughter be far from Him," said Ms. Sawyer. In Chicago, the Rev. Jack Wall told people at Old St. Patrick Church that God gave the world talents like Miss Ball "to show us life is not a tragedy, but a comedy with a happy ending." "She taught us that if we could love Lucy, we could love ourselves," Wall said. In announcing the services, Miss Ball's family said: "Monday night was the time when most of the nation was used to being with Lucy." Two of the three long-running comedy shows in which Miss Ball starred, "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy," aired Monday nights. "I Love Lucy" had starting times on Mondays and other days. "Lucille Ball gave the gift of humor which produced happiness," said Schuller at the Santa Monica service. "Only God knows how many husbands and wives weren't speaking _ and then Monday night rolled around." Fans lined up to get in the Santa Monica church as much as four hours early. Florists delivered arrangements including a 3-foot heart of red carnations with the words "I Love Lucy" written across. Hundreds of people came forward during Holy Communion to receive blessings from three priests, including a woman wearing an "I Love Lucy" T-shirt. "I think she would have loved it very much, and she lived her life for the people who were in that room tonight," said Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Miss Ball and the late Desi Arnaz. Gary Morton, Miss Ball's husband for more than two decades, attended a private service for his wife last month. The actress' remains were buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. 
 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today endorsed the nomination of Michigan Republican activist Peter F. Secchia as ambassador to Italy, but the panel's chairman said he feared Secchia might "embarrass the United States" because of his "penchant for making gross remarks." The committee's vote was 13-0 in favor of Secchia, a former Republican national committeeman for Michigan and lumber industry executive. The chairman, Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., and Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., voted "present," meaning they took no position. Pell inserted into the hearing record newspaper accounts "containing the distasteful specifics of Mr. Secchia's remarks." At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Secchia pledged to be far more careful as a diplomat in his use of colorful language than he had been in his different role as a political organizer and enthusiast. But Pell said he was unpersuaded. "Tact and careful speech are hallmarks of successful diplomats," Pell said. "Mr. Secchia has demonstrated that he would bring opposite qualities to the position of ambassador to Italy." "Italian friends of mine telephoned me from Rome, aghast at the prospect of having Mr. Secchia represent the United States in their country," the chairman said. "I believe that this nomination is a mistake, and in all likelihood Mr. Secchia will be an embarrasment to the administration and the United States," Pell said. But he said that since Secchia is "the president's choice" he would not try to block the nomination or delay action on it. 
 President Corazon Aquino said today she will not allow Ferdinand Marcos to come home to die and her government will not permit the ousted president to be buried on Philippine soil. Marcos' wife Imelda appealed today to Mrs. Aquino to "open her heart" and allow the former president to return. Marcos' lawyer also asked the Philippine Supreme Court to order the return, pledging the ousted leader would cooperate with the Aquino administration. Marcos was reported in critical condition today in a Honolulu hospital after undergoing emergency kidney surgery. Hospital officials said the 71-year-old former Philippine leader was suffering from renal, cardiac and pulmonary failure. In Honolulu, Marcos aide Arturo Aruiza said Imelda had left the hospital to make a final appeal to Mrs. Aquino to allow her husband to die in his homeland. Mrs. Aquino's daughter, Maria Elena Cruz, said the president had received no calls from Mrs. Marcos. Mrs. Cruz serves as her mother's secretary. In a statement broadcast today by the pro-Marcos radio station DZEC, Imelda said she was trying to contact the presidential office "to make a last appeal to Madam Corazon Aquino to open her heart and let Ferdinand come home because he is in very serious condition. "This is for reconciliation, this is what's best for the country," Imelda said. "I'd like to ask our people to pray that Marcos may continue to live." Mrs. Aquino told reporters earlier that she was sorry to hear that Marcos' condition had deteriorated "and I pray that he will be able to recover." "I regret to inform Mrs. Marcos, if indeed she is asking me for reconsideration, because as I have said in the past, much as I agree that Mr. Marcos has his rights, I still have to consider also the rights and interests of millions of Filipinos," Mrs. Aquino said. "I have already said in the past that we will not allow his remains to be brought back here, and we have already taken plans to avoid any untoward incidents," she added. Mrs. Aquino succeeded Marcos after the 1986 uprising that toppled his administration and forced him into exile in Hawaii. Today, the Manila Stock Exchange's composite index fell to 1,084.53 from Thursday's close of 1,102.97. Traders said rumors of Marcos' death triggered a selling wave shortly before noon. In Honolulu, Marcos aide Arturo Aruiza said Mrs. Marcos planned to make one last appeal to Mrs. Aquino to allow her husband to return home. Rafael Ileto, Mrs. Aquino's national security advisor, said granting such a request was still an option but, "I doubt very much that it will be one of the solutions." Ileto, who met with Mrs. Aquino for a half-hour today, said Marcos no longer posed a threat to the nation but his followers "can cause disruptions of normal functions." Ileto, a retired vice chief of staff and former Defense Minister, said the 160,000-member armed forces was capable of quelling any unrest by Marcos supporters. 
 President Corazon Aquino on Friday refused to allow Ferdinand Marcos to return home to die and said her government won't permit him to be buried here despite "a last appeal" from his wife. The 71-year-old Marcos was in critical condition Friday in a Honolulu hospital after emergency kidney surgery. Hospital officials said the ousted leader was suffering from renal, cardiac and pulmonary failure. Marcos' wife, Imelda, broadcast an appeal Friday to Mrs. Aquino to allow her husband to die in his homeland, and his supporters threatened mass protests if the request is rejected. But Mrs. Aquino refused to withdraw her ban on Marcos, and the Philippine Supreme Court rejected a petition from the former president's lawyer, Juan David, to order the return. Marcos has lived in Hawaii since he was ousted three years ago in a popular uprising that propelled Mrs. Aquino to power. "I would like first of all to convey to the family of Mr. Marcos that I do pray that he will still recover from this latest critical illness," Mrs. Aquino said. "I regret very much it is not possible for us to allow him to return." She said she has "said in the past that we will not allow his remains to be brought back here, and we have already taken plans to avoid any untoward incidents." Mrs. Aquino, whose government has survived six coup attempts, has cited national security in refusing previous requests. In a statement broadcast by a pro-Marcos radio station, Mrs. Marcos said she has tried to telephone Mrs. Aquino from Hawaii but was told the president was busy. Maria Elena Cruz, Mrs. Aquino's daughter and personal secretary, said the president received no calls from Mrs. Marcos. Mrs. Marcos said she was trying to contact the president "to make a last appeal to Madame Corazon Aquino to open her heart and let Ferdinand come home because he is in very serious condition." "My countrymen, I am appealing to each and every one of you to pray that, hopefully, Mrs. Aquino will know that bringing home Marcos will bring true reconciliation, true peace and unity for our country," Mrs. Marcos said. "This is what's best for the country." Mrs. Aquino had said earlier: "I regret to inform Mrs. Marcos, if indeed she is asking me for reconsideration, because as I have said in the past, much as I agree that Mr. Marcos has his rights, I still have to consider also the rights and interests of millions of Filipinos." When told of Mrs. Aquino's statement, Mrs. Marcos said "We are aware, but I am a believer and I am an optimist. I know miracles can happen." Marcos supporters, meanwhile, announced they would hold rallies Saturday to pray for his recovery. Pro-Marcos leaders warned the former president's death in exile would trigger demonstrations. "We expect tactical alliances in this nationwide mass action," said pro-Marcos lawyer Oliver Lozano. "We refer to the tactical alliances of the military, labor sector and student sector." But the chief of staff, Gen. Renato de Villa, said the armed forces would accept Mrs. Aquino's decision and was prepared to block any attempts by the opposition to foment trouble. "We will do everything in our power to see to it that law and order prevail," de Villa told reporters. "We will follow any decision by the executive branch." 
 Chinese troops stormed Tiananmen Square early Sunday, shooting and beating their way through crowds of pro-democracy protesters in clashes that witnesses and doctors said killed at least 32 people. Hundreds were wounded. The troops cut a violent swath through the heart of Beijing to get to the the square, rolling through barricades and surging masses on the surrounding streets. By 3:30 a.m., soldiers and riot police had surrounded Tiananmen, boxing off several thousand students and supporters concentrated around a monument to revolutionary heroes in the center. A half hour later, lights were turned out. The square was in darkness. "You have to give up all hope," students said over their loudspeaker at the monument. "You have to give your life to the movement." Students sang the "Internationale," the communist anthem. At 4:30 a.m., armored personnel carriers entered the square and troops began moving slowly toward several thousand students clustered around a monument to revolutionary heroes in the center. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard on the outskirts of the square as troops shot at crowds of thousands. The death and casualty toll was believed to be mounting rapidly. Ambulances and bicycle pedicabs went back and forth hauling away the wounded. One man was seen shot in the back, another in the head. An official loudspeaker on the square announced that the troops were moving in to clear the area as soldiers prepared to advance from all four sides. Ho Te-chien, a Taiwanese singer who defected to China in 1983 and has been active in the student movement, urged the students to leave. "We're not afraid to die, but we've already lost too much blood," he said over a student loudspeaker. A 33-foot-high replica of the Statue of Liberty, set up by students last week, remained standing. The main streets leading to the Tiananmen, China's symbolic political center, were sealed. Thousands fled from the square, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered to support students in the third week of a sit-in. The assault came two weeks after Premier Li Peng declared martial law in Beijing and sent troops to the city. Hundreds of thousands of residents responded by blocking roads with trucks and their bodies. In Washington, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Saturday the situation in China had become "ugly and chaotic. "This will disturb the United States government, and will disturb the American people, considerably," he said. The secretary hinted that there could be repercussions to the Chinese government's use of violence. The standoff between troops and protesters had been tense but largely peaceful for weeks, with soldiers seemingly reluctant or unable to move against the crowds until the first widespread violence broke out Saturday afternoon. A doctor from the Fuxing Hospital in western Beijing, where troops began firing on street people, said the hospital had taken in 15 dead and so many wounded they had to be put in garages. A doctor from another hospital said 12 people died there. One soldier was killed when he was run over by an armored personnel carrier rushing toward the square, and another man was reported shot to death in a street clash elsewhere. A Swedish visitor, Tom Hansson, said he saw three people shot to death in clashes south of the square. "The government is fascist! How can they do this to me? How can they do this to the people?" cried a 28-year-old man who was shot in the leg. Most of those shot on the square were hurling rocks at the troops and people close to their front lines. A government loudspeaker on the square charged the students with "counterrevolutionary turmoil" and said the military was taking necessary means to end their rebellion. Sporadic clashes and dozens of injuries were reported on Saturday as soldiers made several attempts to reach the square. They retreated momentarily under barrages of rocks, shoes and other objects, then resumed their most violent push at about 8 p.m. Saturday, firing weapons and using tear gas and clubs as they moved toward Tiananmen. Thousands of troops armed with rifles marched up the east side of the square, beating people who got in their way. Students threw Molotov cocktails and other objects at them. One armored personnel carrier rammed into a burning bus on Changan Avenue, the main street running along the square, and was torched by students. Two people inside were dragged out by the crowds and beaten severely. Other armored personnel carriers drove up and down the avenue smashing down lane dividers and other barriers set up by citizens to block the army's way. 
 Here is a look at key events in the student pro-democracy movement that led to Sunday's assault by soldiers on protesters in Tiananmen Square: April 15 _ Former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang dies. Beijing University students put up posters praising him and indirectly criticizing opponents who forced his resignation after student demonstrations in 1986-87. April 17 _ Thousands of students march in Beijing and Shanghai, shouting "Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!" April 27 _ More than 150,000 students, with wide support from people on the street, surge past police lines and fill Tiananmen Square, chanting slogans for democracy and freedom. April 29 _ Officials meet with student leaders, but independent student groups are not satisfied and continue a class boycott at 41 universities. April 30 _ Beijing's Communist Party chief, Zhao Ziyang, meets with student representatives. May 4 _ About 100,000 students and supporters march on Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China's first student movement. Demonstrations are held in Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities. About 300 journalists protest outside the official Xinhua News Agency. May 9 _ Journalists petition the government for press freedom. May 10 _ Thousands of students bicycle to major media offices in a press freedom demonstration. Another protest is held in the provincial capital of Taiyuan. May 13 _ About 2,000 students begin a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. May 14 _ Thousands flock to the square to back the students. The number fasting rises to 3,000. May 15 _ The government deadline for students to leave the square passes. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's welcoming ceremony planned near the square must be moved to the airport. May 16 _ Hundreds of thousands occupy the square. Journalists and intellectuals join the protest. May 17 _ Zhao pleas for students to leave. Students reject his appeal and hold marches that generate 1 million supporters in Beijing. May 18 _ About 1 million people, including many workers, again take to the streets to show their support for the hunger strikers. Li Peng issues a stern lecture to student leaders and refuses to discuss their demands. May 19 _ A tearful Zhao visits weakened hunger strikers. Li also visits the students briefly. The students later decide to end the hunger strike. May 20 _ Martial law is declared in parts of Beijing. Zhao reportedly resigns after failing to persuade Li and other hardliners to compromise. Students resume their hunger strike, then abandon it, saying they will need their strength for the struggle ahead. May 21 _ Students claim to reject an order by Li Peng to leave the Tiananman Square or face military action. Defying martial law, hundreds of thousands of people remain in the square or block intersections to prevent troops from reaching it. May 22 _ Hundreds of thousands of people again block major roads and senior military leaders say they are resisting orders to order their troops on the protesters. At least one military convoy is reported to withdraw. May 23 _ One million people take to the streets to demonstrate for democracy. May 25 _ Li makes his first appearance since declaring martial law. State- run radio says 27 of 29 provinces support martial law, and military units announce they support martial law. May 26 _ Sources say Zhao and another leading liberal, Wan Li, head of the legislature, are under house arrest. May 27 _ Beijing student leaders propose students end their occupation of Tiananmen Square. Non-Beijing students resist and the sit-in continues. May 28 _ About 80,000 people, many students from outside the capital, stage a demonstration, but unlike in past rallies few workers participate. May 30 _ Students unveil their "Goddess of Democracy," a replica of the Statue of Liberty, on the square. The government calls it an insult to the nation. Students rally outside police headquarters to protest the detention of three members of an independent labor union. May 31 _ The first of several pro-government rallies is staged by farmers and workers in Beijing suburbs. The participants, ordered to show up, show little enthusiasm. June 1 _ The Beijing Municipal Government warns foreign journalists that under martial law they must receive approval for all press coverage. Coverage of the demonstrations is banned. June 2 _ More than 1,000 troops appear outside the railway station in a show of force. June 3-4 _ Tens of thousands of troops make several attempts to move on the square but are driven back by crowds of hundreds of thousands of people supporting the students. Riot squads beat and fire tear gas at demonstrators. A final push is made the evening of June 3, and soldiers begin firing on crowds. Troops surround and enter the square June 4 in the early morning hours and thousands of protesters flee. Hundreds are wounded and many dead. 
 Here is a chronology of events that began Saturday in Tiananmen Square: 1 a.m. Saturday (12 noon EDT Friday) _ Tens of thousands of troops enter Beijing from the east marching toward Tiananmen Square, China's symbolic political heart. Military units also seen approaching from the west and the north. 2 a.m. _ The main body of troops is stopped several hundred yards east of the vast square by thousands of people. 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. _ Troops straggle away from their positions near the square, walking in small groups followed by watchful residents. 12 noon _ Two truckloads of People's Armed Police attack crowds outside Beijing Hotel east of the square and up to 30 people injured. 2 p.m. _ About 5,000 troops emerge from Great Hall of the People on the western side of the square and are surrounded by crowds. People's Armed Police fire tear gas and use clubs to beat protesters west of the square in a 30-minute attack. 4:30 p.m. _ Stone- and bottle-throwing demonstrators skirmish with troops outside the Great Hall. Troops swinging belts attack crowds. Some soldiers injured by flying debris. 6 p.m. _ Thousands of residents surround two troop convoys on a main highway in northeastern Beijing. 7 p.m. _ National television repeats martial law regulations and warns people to stay off the streets and away from Tiananmen Square. 8:30 p.m. _ Troops retreat into the Great Hall. 9 p.m. _ More than 20,000 people block a 26-truck convoy about 2{ miles east of the square and thousands of others converge on the square to protect students demanding demoncratic reforms. Crowds throw rocks at troop contingent 4{ miles west of Tiananmen. 9 p.m.-10 p.m. _ Troops hurl tear gas then open fire on the crowds. 12 midnight _ Armored vehicles break through barricades and about 40 trucks carrying military personnel slowly advance toward the square from the west. 1 a.m. Sunday. Troops dash through flames caused by a burning-bus barricade at the major intersection of Xidan west of the square. More people shot as troops fire at crowds. A smaller group of about 1,000 military personnel enters the square from the east and shooting erupts. 2 a.m. _ Thousands of troops arrive at the west side of the square and some of the riflemen open fire. 3:30 a.m. _ Military units surround the square, trapping several thousand students inside. 4:30 a.m. _ Armored personnel carriers enter the square. Students are told by loudspeaker that troops will move in and clear the area. 5 a.m. _ Demonstrators, many walking hand-in-hand, begin leaving the square, ending their three-week occupation. 
 Dawn broke Sunday over a battle-scarred Tiananmen Square with tanks and rifle-toting troops ruling the vast expanse occupied the day before by students seeking a freer society from their communist rulers. A low cloud of smoke covered much of the 100-acre square as bonfires set during the night's confrontation continued to smolder. Hundreds of helmeted troops were deployed on the monument to revolutionary heroes in the square's center and thousands more at important intersections nearby. Tanks moved into place on what had hours earlier been a rag-tag squatter's camp of tents for the pro-democracy students. The battle for Tiananmen was primarily fought in the streets leading to the square, where scores of people fell trying to prevent columns of troops and armored military vehicles from moving on the students. Gunfire could be heard from several sides, and tracers zipped through the sky above Mao Tse-tung's mausoleum, one of the main monuments to Chinese communism in the square. Torched buses and army vehicles on the streets around Tiananmen billowed acrid smoke. Troops first entered the square from the south, when a column trotted toward the student encampment about 1 a.m. (noon EDT Saturday). They took up positions to the east after a brief skirmish involving clubs and sticks with students. More soldiers were deployed in front of the Great Hall of the People to the west, and a huge convoy with armored vehicles rolled down Changan Avenue to the north side. The few thousand students remaining in the square stayed calm as they quietly gathered on the steps of the heroes' monument. "I'm not afraid," several said as the heavily armed troops encircled. Hundreds of supporters continued to mill around the square, many dressed more for a summer outing than a military battle. Loudspeakers blaring government and student announcements engaged in a noisy propaganda battle throughout the night. "The government is corrupt, you've been tricked," the students roared. The state-run speaker warned that troops would use every means at their disposal to clear the square and that remaining students would bear responsibility for the consequences. At 4 a.m., the lamposts that dot the square went ominously dark, and the student loudspeaker played the Internationale, the socialist anthem. A Taiwan singer staging a hunger strike for democracy took the microphone and proclaimed: "We've achieved a big victory. ... We're not afraid to die, but we've already lost too much blood." After the lights went back on a half hour later, a voice vote by the students showed most wanted to leave the square to avoid further bloodshed. They quickly filed out under the banners of their schools, carrying the quilts and padded jackets that offered warmth during the 22-day sit-in. Neither the students nor the Beijing residents who arrived to show support could control their tears. "Go with us," they told their supporters, who applauded the students as they retreated. As they sobbed, many students defiantly shouted: "We shall return!" and flashed V-for-victory signs. 
 Here is a look at key events in the student pro-democracy movement, the government crackdown and the fighting between rival army factions: April 15 _ Former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang dies. Beijing University students put up posters praising him and indirectly criticizing opponents who forced his resignation after student demonstrations in 1986-87. April 18 _ Thousands of students march in Beijing and Shanghai, expressing dissatisfaction with the government and shouting "Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!" About 1,000 stage a sit-in at the Great Hall of the People to demand greater democracy, a free press, and more money for education. April 24 _ Students begin boycott of university classes. April 27 _ In the largest to date of a continuing series of protests, more than 150,000 students, with wide support from people on the street, surge past police lines and fill Tiananmen Square, chanting slogans for democracy and freedom. April 29 _ Officials meet with student leaders, but independent student groups are not satisfied and continue a class boycott at 41 universities. May 4 _ About 100,000 students and supporters march on Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China's first student movement. Demonstrations are held in Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities. About 300 journalists protest outside the official Xinhua News Agency. May 13 _ About 2,000 students begin a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. May 14 _ Thousands flock to the square to back the students. The number fasting rises to 3,000. May 15 _ The government deadline for students to leave the square passes. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's welcoming ceremony planned near the square must be moved to the airport. May 16 _ Hundreds of thousands occupy the square. Journalists and intellectuals join the protest. May 17 _ Zhao pleas for students to leave. Students reject his appeal and hold marches that generate 1 million supporters in Beijing. May 18 _ About 1 million people, including many workers, again take to the streets to show their support for the hunger strikers. Li Peng issues a stern lecture to student leaders and refuses to discuss their demands. May 19 _ A tearful Zhao visits weakened hunger strikers. Li also visits the students briefly. The students later decide to end the hunger strike. May 20 _ Martial law is declared in parts of Beijing. Zhao reportedly resigns after failing to persuade Li and other hardliners to compromise. Students resume their hunger strike, then abandon it, saying they will need their strength for the struggle ahead. May 21 _ Students claim to reject an order by Li Peng to leave Tiananman Square or face military action. Defying martial law, hundreds of thousands of people remain in the square or block intersections to prevent troops from reaching it. May 22 _ Hundreds of thousands of people again block major roads and senior military leaders say they are resisting orders to order their troops on the protesters. At least one military convoy is reported to withdraw. May 23 _ One million people take to the streets to demonstrate for democracy. May 25 _ Li makes his first appearance since declaring martial law. State-run radio says 27 of 29 provinces support martial law, and military units announce they support martial law. May 26 _ Sources say Zhao and another leading liberal, Wan Li, head of the legislature, are under house arrest. May 27 _ Beijing student leaders propose students end their occupation of Tiananmen Square. Non-Beijing students resist and the sit-in continues. May 28 _ About 80,000 people, many students from outside the capital, stage a demonstration, but unlike in past rallies few workers participate. May 30 _ Students unveil their "Goddess of Democracy," a replica of the Statue of Liberty, on the square. The government calls it an insult to the nation. Students rally outside police headquarters to protest the detention of three members of an independent labor union. May 31 _ The first of several pro-government rallies is staged by farmers and workers in Beijing suburbs. The participants, ordered to show up, show little enthusiasm. June 1 _ The Beijing Municipal Government warns foreign journalists that under martial law they must receive approval for all press coverage. Coverage of the demonstrations is banned. June 2 _ More than 1,000 troops appear outside the railway station in a show of force. June 3-4 _ Tens of thousands of troops make several attempts to move on the square but are driven back by crowds of hundreds of thousands of people supporting the students. Riot squads beat and fire tear gas at demonstrators. A final push is made the evening of June 3, and soldiers begin firing on crowds. Troops surround and enter the square June 4 in the early morning hours and thousands of protesters flee. Hundreds are killed and thousands wounded. June 5 _ Soldiers in Beijing randomly shoot at unarmed civilians. Army reinforces positions in city center. Reports spread of a split in the army and a battle between military factions. Demonstraters in Shanghai, Nanjing and other major Chinese cities protest the slaughter in Beijing. U.S. announces suspension of all military sales and visits of Chinese military leaders, but stops short of severing diplomatic ties. June 6 _ Armies loyal to rival factions trade fire. Soldiers continue firing into crowds around Beijing. Anti-government demonstrations spread to Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenyang and other cities. Other nations urge their citizens to leave Beijing. 
 The Chinese government says that 300 soldiers, "thugs," bystanders and students have been killed during the martial law occupation of Beijing. But most other estimates of casualties are far higher. State Council spokesman Yuan Mu said on Tuesday that 7,000 people, including 5,000 soldiers, have been injured and 400 other soldiers are missing and may be dead or wounded. Non-official sources say Yuan's figures on civilian casualties are far too low, but most have different estimates on the number of victims. They range from 500 to 12,000 people slain. In Washington, U.S. intelligence reports indicate 3,000 people probably were killed, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said estimates of the number of dead could go higher. Nearly all of the deaths and injuries occurred Saturday night and early Sunday when troops, firing randomly into large crowds, smashed through barricades to reach Tiananmen square and attack demonstrators demanding democratic reforms. One doctor said Sunday that a quick check of 10 hospitals placed the death toll at 500. Other sources, compiling various reports and surveys, estimated more than 1,000 people had been killed. That number has increased with additional details and rumors of killings. Some officials of China's Red Cross said 2,600 people were killed but Beijing's Red Cross office has refused to provide any figures. One Hong Kong newspaper reported 5,000 deaths and 30,000 injured. An Eastern European diplomat, whose country has good relations with China, insisted that 12,000 people were slain by soldiers as they attacked protesters in Tiananmen Square. That figure is certainly high. Probably fewer than 10,000 people were in the square when the troops moved in and most were able to escape unharmed. But students who had joined the Tiananmen occupation said hundreds of colleagues from the Academy of Fine Arts who were huddled around their "Goddess of Democracy" statue in the square were shot or crushed by tanks. Beijing University students said 150 of their fellow students who were in the square are missing. There were rumors that after the square was cleared troops burned many corpses in large bonfires and other bodies were removed by helicopters and garbage trucks to minimize the death count. Yuan's statement said only 23 of the 300 people fatally injured were students. The exact number of people killed may never be known. Victims were taken to dozens of hospitals, clinics and homes, and there is no indication the government will reveal many details of the tragedy. And the death toll mounts. Troops manning checkpoints in central Beijing continue to fire on unfriendly crowds and victims fall. 
 Here is a look at key events in the student pro-democracy movement and at events since Sunday's assault by soldiers on protesters in Tiananmen Square: April 15 _ Former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang dies. Beijing University students put up posters praising him and indirectly criticizing opponents who forced his resignation after student demonstrations in 1986-87. April 18 _ Thousands of students march in Beijing and Shanghai, expressing dissatisfaction with the government and shouting "Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!" About 1,000 stage a sit-in at the Great Hall of the People to demand greater democracy, a free press, and more money for education. April 24 _ Students begin boycott of university classes. April 27 _ In the largest to date of a continuing series of protests, more than 150,000 students, with wide support from people on the street, surge past police lines and fill Tiananmen Square, chanting slogans for democracy and freedom. April 29 _ Officials meet with student leaders, but independent student groups are not satisfied and continue a class boycott at 41 universities. May 4 _ About 100,000 students and supporters march on Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China's first student movement. Demonstrations are held in Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities. About 300 journalists protest outside the official Xinhua News Agency. May 13 _ About 2,000 students begin a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. May 14 _ Thousands flock to the square to back the students. The number fasting rises to 3,000. May 15 _ The government deadline for students to leave the square passes. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's welcoming ceremony planned near the square must be moved to the airport. May 16 _ Hundreds of thousands occupy the square. Journalists and intellectuals join the protest. May 17 _ Zhao pleads for students to leave. Students reject his appeal and hold marches that generate 1 million supporters in Beijing. May 18 _ About 1 million people, including many workers, again take to the streets to show their support for the hunger strikers. Li Peng issues a stern lecture to student leaders and refuses to discuss their demands. May 19 _ A tearful Zhao visits weakened hunger strikers. Li also visits the students briefly. The students later decide to end the hunger strike. May 20 _ Martial law is declared in parts of Beijing. Zhao reportedly resigns after failing to persuade Li and other hardliners to compromise. Students resume their hunger strike, then abandon it, saying they will need their strength for the struggle ahead. May 21 _ Students claim to reject an order by Li Peng to leave Tiananman Square or face military action. Defying martial law, hundreds of thousands of people remain in the square or block intersections to prevent troops from reaching it. May 22 _ Hundreds of thousands of people again block major roads and senior military leaders say they are resisting orders to order their troops on the protesters. At least one military convoy is reported to withdraw. May 23 _ One million people take to the streets to demonstrate for democracy. May 25 _ Li makes his first appearance since declaring martial law. State-run radio says 27 of 29 provinces support martial law, and military units announce they support martial law. May 26 _ Sources say Zhao and another leading liberal, Wan Li, head of the legislature, are under house arrest. May 27 _ Beijing student leaders propose students end their occupation of Tiananmen Square. Non-Beijing students resist and the sit-in continues. May 28 _ About 80,000 people, many students from outside the capital, stage a demonstration, but unlike in past rallies few workers participate. May 30 _ Students unveil their "Goddess of Democracy," a replica of the Statue of Liberty, on the square. The government calls it an insult to the nation. Students rally outside police headquarters to protest the detention of three members of an independent labor union. May 31 _ The first of several pro-government rallies is staged by farmers and workers in Beijing suburbs. The participants, ordered to show up, show little enthusiasm. June 1 _ The Beijing Municipal Government warns foreign journalists that under martial law they must receive approval for all press coverage. Coverage of the demonstrations is banned. June 2 _ More than 1,000 troops appear outside the railway station in a show of force. June 3-4 _ Tens of thousands of troops make several attempts to move on the square but are driven back by crowds of hundreds of thousands of people supporting the students. Riot squads beat and fire tear gas at demonstrators. A final push is made the evening of June 3, and soldiers begin firing on crowds. Troops surround and enter the square June 4 in the early morning hours and thousands of protesters flee. Hundreds are killed and thousands wounded. June 5 _ Soldiers terrorize Beijing with random shooting of unarmed civilians. Army reinforces positions in city center. Reports spread of a split in the army and a battle between military factions. Demonstrations in Shanghai, Nanjing and other major Chinese cities to protest the slaughter in Beijing. Chorus of condemnation from around the world. U.S. announces suspension of all military sales and visits of Chinese military leaders, but stops short of severing diplomatic ties. June 6 _ Armies loyal to rival factions are reported to be clashing. Soldiers continue firing into crowds around Beijing. Anti-government demonstrations spread to Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenyang and other cities. Other nations urge their citizens to leave Beijing. June 7 _ Soldiers sprayed a diplomatic compound with bullets and foreign embassies ordered their nationals to leave Beijing. Hundreds of foreigners leave the country. The U.S. government called the situation "increasingly dangerous." June 8 _ Premier Li Peng makes his first public appearance since May 25 and praises the soldiers who crushed the demonstrations. The government issued new martial law orders demanding that student leaders surrender. 
 Gone from Tiananmen Square are the pro-democracy banners and the tents of China's freedom movement, replaced by tanks, armed guards and the chants of drilling soldiers. The army on Thursday allowed the people of Beijing their first glance of the 100-acre expanse since the military swept into the capital six days ago, leaving hundreds dead and crushing a movement for political change. Troops moved back their barricades, making it possible for city residents to walk to the edge of the square, which for seven weeks stood at the heart of the movement. Buses and bicyclists today were allowed to pass by Changan Avenue, which borders the north edge of the square. The spot once occupied by the Goddess of Democracy, a 33-foot-high replica of the Statue of Liberty, was taken by a tread-wheeled armored personnel carrier. When students built the statue last week, for a few days it became a symbol of the movement for democratic reforms and an end to official corruption. On Sunday morning, a tank crushed it. In all, 80 tanks and 40 armored personnel carriers lined the northern part of the square. The Monument to Revolutionary Martyrs, where the students took a final stand early Sunday, was swept clean. Poems and posters calling for a more open China have disappeared from its sides. Chinese Red Cross officials estimate 3,600 people were killed and 60,000 injured over the weekend, citing a Chinese students' organization, the Union of Chinese Students in West Germany. The government says nearly 300 people, mostly soldiers, were killed; diplomats and Chinese say up to 3,000 died. Soldiers drilled in Tiananmen's center, their cadenced shouting echoing around the vast expanse. A crowd of officials stood on the roof of the Great Hall of the People, overlooking the square. From this same roof five days earlier officials watched as a jubilant mass of demonstrators enveloped 5,000 troops and blocked their entry to the square. Inside the square, soldiers could be seen shuffling about, their uniformed jackets stripped off, wash basins in hand. There was a relaxed air of the inside of an army barracks as unarmed troops carried food and walked slowly together, talking and laughing in groups. The area once housing students' tents has become a holding area for a huge fleet of troop trucks. On the southern perimeter, a single line of tanks and a cordon of soldiers blocked the square from the thousands of bicylists who pedaled slowly by, peering into Tiananmen. Near the square, troops placed barbed wire in front of one street. Soldiers were billeted in a construction site, their laundered fatigues drying on the scaffolding. Next door, troops, their assault rifles slung nonchalantly over their shoulders, stood and chatted outside a discotheque. "They look like they ," said one local resident. "I hope they know that we still don't want them here." 
 More than 5,000 people chanting "Freedom will survive!" packed a Chinatown park this morning in a memorial service for students slain by soldiers in Tiananmen Square. They then marched through the streets in a funeral procession. "The gods are crying for what's happening in China today. It's a great tragedy," said Harry Zinn of International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 2325, addressing the crowd through a steady rain. "Our hearts go out to the people of China." The crowd, which stood respectfully and silently during a traditional funeral ceremony, waved banners and wore buttons honoring "the martyrs of Tiananmen Square" and calling for democracy in China. After the service and several speeches, the crowd marched through the streets of Chinatown, led by a casket and a traditional Chinese funeral bier containing fruit and incense. As they headed up Mulberry Street, a major street in Chinatown, they walked beneath a 30-foot black banner strung across the road. "This has united the Chinese people for one cause _ to overthrow the government and establish democracy," said Peter Lee, one of the student organizers of the service. "We must never allow them to crush another body." The funeral procession stretched for blocks through Chinatown, tying up traffic. Demonstrators planned another rally later in the day outside the United Nations. 
 A yacht built for Adolf Hitler and sunk with great fanfare to commemorate the "Voyage of the Damned" was mistakenly dropped on a delicate coral reef in a shallow shipping lane, officials said Tuesday. "They're going to have to move it," said Coast Guard spokeswoman Veronica Cady. The 85-foot Ostwind yacht was supposed to become an artificial reef in 250 feet of water about two miles off the coast. It was sunk June 4, 50 years after the U.S. Coast Guard turned away the SS St. Louis as its more than 900 Jewish passengers were seeking refuge from the Holocaust. The sinking site was supposed to be near where the Coast Guard intercepted the St. Louis, whose passengers also were turned away by Cuba and forced to return to Europe. Most of the passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps. For unexplained reasons, the Ostwind was pushed off a barge about a mile north of the site, and is resting in 25 feet of water on a living reef. "It was truly an incredible, incredible historic event, and suddenly _ boom! _ somebody made a mistake," said Mayor Abe Resnick, a Holocaust survivor and a sponsor of the event. Federal and Dade County officials who allowed Resnick to sink the boat are upset about the result. "They didn't even come close," complained Susan Markely, an administrator with Dade's environmental department. Coast Guard Lt. Al Crespo said the yacht is balanced on a delicate living reef, threatening damage to coral and sponges. It's also close to an anchoring spot for freighters and other vessels heading to the port of Miami and has been marked with a flashing buoy, he said. "It's close enough that if a ship swings on its anchor, it could hit it," Crespo said. The Army Corps of Engineers said the Ostwind must be moved or cut to pieces by June 22. If it's not, the government will remove it and bill Resnick. Resnick blames the mistake on A.M. Daly Jr., captain of the tug that towed the yacht to where it was sunk. Daly, however, said Chris Cadley, captain of a passenger boat that accompanied him, had agreed to lead him to the site. Cadley denied that, saying he only agreed to meet Daly off the coast. Resnick said someone will have to pay. "I think's that's going to end up being decided by attorneys," said Ben Mostkoff, the county's artificial reef director. The Ostwind was built at Hitler's direction, although he rarely used it. After World War II, the badly decayed boat wound up in the hands of a Jacksonville marina owner. 
 Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton pitched in to help check-out clerks at his store in this Florida Panhandle city when an electronic glitch shut down the cash registers. The 71-year-old Walton, considered to be one of the world's richest people, grabbed a note pad Tuesday evening and started hand-writing merchandise prices for customers so their bills could be tallied on calculators quickly. "People began recognizing him and coming up and greeting him," said store manager Paul Sively. "He shook their hands and talked to everyone he could. The registers were out for about 45 minutes, and I don't think we had one customer complain." Walton, known for his down-home style, made a surprise visit to the store that later Tuesday staged a concert by country singer Jana Jea in its parking lot. Walton often attends promotional events for his Arkansas-based chain, and Sively said he had suspected the boss might make an appearance. Walton continued talking with customers during the concert. He also joined the singer on stage to sing a duet and led customers in the Wal-Mart cheer. "He was up there saying, `Give me a W, give me an A,' and the customers went right along with him," Sively said. "He even got down to do a cheerleader's squiggle." 
 More than 10,000 coal miners in four states were off the job today to express sympathy for miners in Virginia and West Virginia who have waged a bitter strike since April against the Pittston Coal Group. Miners in Pennsylvania and Kentucky today became the third and fourth states to report walkouts at coal companies. The sympathy strikes began Monday in West Virginia and spread to Indiana late Thursday. One United Mine Workers representative said today that the Indiana walkout was prompted by Thursday night's telecast of CBS' "48 Hours," which focused on the Pittston strike, in which 1,600 miners have been off the job since April. Pittston dropped out of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association to negotiate with the union independently, and the two sides have failed to reach an agreement despite 16 months of negotiations. UMW officials gave conflicting indications of whether they are responsible for the wildcat strike. Some said they are asking union members to return to work, but Tommy Buchanan, international executive board member in UMW District 20 in Birmingham, Ala., said today the final decision on whether 5,000 Alabama miners will join the strike will be with union President Richard Trumka. "It might be two days. It might be a week. It will start whenever it comes down from the union president," Buchanan said. Union spokesman Joe Corcoran was not in his office and has not returned phone calls this week. The head of the coal industry bargaining unit said he had no plans to confer with the Pittston on the wildcat strikes. "I would no more try to tell someone else how to run their company than I would expect someone else to try to tell me how to run my company," said Robert H. Quenon, president of Peabody Holding Co., the nation's largest coal producer, and chairman of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association. Quenon flew to Charleston from St. Louis on Thursday to meet with reporters and express Peabody's and the association's concerns about the walkout. An estimated 2,300 United Mine Workers members stayed away from their jobs today in Pennsylvania. Most worked for Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Co. operations in central Pennsylvania, where 1,600 miners failed to report for work at midnight Thursday, said company spokesman Hank Waneck said. About 290 miners at Peabody's Camp No. 1 mine in Morganfield, Ky., didn't report for work today, said company spokesman Tom Clarke. At least 270 miners were off the job at two mines in Indiana today, spokesmen said. Mark Arnold, a spokesman for UMW District 11 in Terre Haute, attributed the action to the CBS show. "When the miners saw that last night, that kind of set them off to where they decided to walk out," he said. About one-third of West Virginia's 24,000 miners were reported off the job today. Some 600 miners in Wise County, Va., who walked out earlier in the week returned to work this morning. The coal companies contend the walkouts at companies other than Pittston violate a no-strike clause in the 1988 national contract the union signed with the association. Pittston did not take part in that agreement. Union officials have not returned phone calls this week, but in the past they have said they have not authorized the walkout. "I think the union leadership ought to exercise its leadership role and do what they can to lead the miners back to work," Quenon said. "That's why we have a union. That's why we have an agreement with the union _ to set out the terms and conditions under which we will have labor to run our coal mines. "And we expect that to be honored." 
 A deep-sea inspection of the Bismarck suggests that the most powerful battleship in Adolf Hitler's navy was scuttled by its own crew rather than sunk by the British in a celebrated battle, underwater explorer Robert D. Ballard said Thursday. During a 90-minute news conference, Ballard described how he his ocean-crawling robot located the Bismarck "sitting upright and proud" two weeks ago. Then the American oceanographer, whose father was of British background and whose mother was of German heritage, addressed himself to the German people in German. "I am an underwater explorer, not a treasure hunter," he said, translating himself back into English. "We found no human remains. We touched nothing and took nothing. ... The future of the Bismarck is in the hands of the German people." He said he will disclose its exact location only to Germany so Germans themselves can decide whether to try to raise the ship, which sank after a battle May 27, 1941. Ballard, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said structural evidence satisfied him that the Germans scuttled the battleship rather than trying to surrender or allowing her to be sent down by British fire. "Only scuttled ships tend to make it to the bottom in one piece," Ballard said. "It appears the crew opened it up along its entire length. It was clearly flooded, stem to stern." "Maybe the Germans didn't want it taken as a war prize," he added. It is known that two years earlier, Hitler ordered the German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled after it was cornered in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay, and attacked by British ships. Hitler apparently wanted to keep the British from learning the secrets of the Graf Spee's construction and weapons. In the 1941 battle, the Bismarck's main guns were quickly knocked out and the attacking British ships were out of range of her secondary guns, Ballard said, so its was helpless and taking hundreds of hits _ its sinking clearly inevitable. Rendered unsteerable by torpedoes dropped by tiny fabric-covered British biplanes, it was unable to escape. Asked if the German commander couldn't have surrendered by ceasing fire, Ballard said "in the fuzz of battle" in fierce seas it would have been unlikely that the British would have recognized that the Germans were giving up. Again, he speculated, perhaps the Germans did not want the ship's technologically advanced equipment to fall into British hands. The Bismarck was found by Ballard in more than 15,000 feet of water about 600 miles west of Brest, France. He said it was in remarkably good shape, "elegant, well preserved." Before the battle, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had left convoys unprotected and thrown all his capital ships in pursuit with a ringing three-word command: "Sink the Bismarck!" Of the Bismarck's 2,200-man crew, only about 115 survived. British ships picked up 110 survivors but left with hundreds of German sailors still in the icy waters after spotting what might have been a German U-boat. German vessels later rescued only five more survivors. The story has been recounted in books, songs and a movie. The sinking occurred only eight days after the Bismarck left Gdynia, Poland, for her first operation. If unstopped, it could have posed a critical threat to convoys of merchant shipping and undercut British morale at a time when England stood virtually alone against combined German sea and air power. The British sent the warship Hood after the Bismarck but within five days of going to sea the Bismarck had sunk the Hood in a three-minute engagement, with the loss of all but three of the vessel's crew of 1,419. The Hood was a symbol of British sea power, and its loss stunned the British public and the war government and made sinking the Bismarck a mission of crucial importance. Ballard said under laws of the sea, the Bismarck remains the property of the German people. The sunken battleship was discovered and photographed by the same remote-controlled robot that Ballard used four years ago to find the wreck of the Titanic, the British passenger liner that sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg. 
 President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines on Monday asked government and industrial leaders to expand economic ties with her nation. Mrs. Aquino, on the first stop of her weeklong three-nation European tour, met with West German President Richard von Weizsaecker, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and other officials. Mrs. Aquino, comparing the task of strengthening the heavily indebted Philippine economy to the recovery of West Germany after World War II, asked that Germany share its experience with her homeland. "We have tried by sound fiscal policies not to buy recovery at the price of inflation, nor debt relief at the price of national honor," she said in a speech to the West German Chamber of Industry and Trade. "We have paid as careful attention to the consequences of runaway inflation and devaluation as Germany in the light of her own experiences between the wars," she said. Mrs. Aquino said the Philippines' debt was projected to increase to $29 billion by year's end but that much was money that "was in fact stolen by the previous government" of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. She said that since her government took over in 1986, the country's growth rate of minus 10 percent under Marcos in 1985 had improved to a rate of plus 6.7 percent by 1988. "What we need to complete the equation are two elements essential to the German recovery _ debt relief and investments," Mrs. Aquino said. During a state banquet in the evening, Weizsaecker told Mrs. Aquino her visit would further strengthen relations between West Germany and the Philippines. Weizsaecker said the Philippines have had good results in trade with West Germany, and assured Mrs. Aquino that the barrier-free market the European Economic Community plans for 1992 will not lock out trade with other countries. Mrs. Aquino, who arrived in West Germany on Sunday, will meet with Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Tuesday before departing for Paris. She also is to visit Belgium. 
 He's ranked as the richest man in the nation by a leading business magazine, but to folks in Bentonville, a town of about 8,700 people, Sam Walton is just another neighbor. "He's just a part of the community," said Curt Loyd, executive director of the Bentonville Chamber of Commerce. "He's a neat person. He calls Bentonville home, and that is special to us." Walton, who prefers bird-hunting, tennis and opening new Wal-Mart stores to trumpeting his personal financial holdings, is again shunning publicity about his third consecutive ranking among the world's top billionaires. According to Forbes magazine's July 24 edition, the Walton family's estimated worth is $8.7 billion, up from its 1988 estimate of $6.5 billion. "He is unavailable," said Wal-Mart spokesman Don Shinkle of the silver-haired founder of the nation's third-largest retail chain, based in Bentonville, about 150 miles northwest of Little Rock. Shinkle said he received about 10 calls from reporters Monday morning, when the Forbes list appeared in newspapers. Shinkle said news coverage about Walton "usually sets off a press frenzy" for comments from him. But the 71-year-old businessman declined to comment. "He feels any attention to Sam Walton is to the individual and he prefers attention to Sam Walton (the founder of) the company," Shinkle said. "He very seldom schedules interviews about his feelings. It just puts him in a position he doesn't want to be." But Walton occasionally offers peeks that reveal personal modesty. Just after the 1987 stock market crash, in which Walton's family-owned chunk of Wal-Mart stock lost millions in value, he quipped in response to questions at a news conference on another topic that it was only paper. Walton then changed the subject. Walton was first listed by Forbes as the nation's richest man in October 1985. Three years ago, Forbes also began listing the world's wealthiest people. Walton made that listing as the richest American every year since. This year he ranks third, behind two Japanese businessmen. Shinkle said Walton stays busy visiting many of the more than 1,400 stores operated by the company he started as a single five-and-dime at Rogers more than two decades ago. He is out of the office up to four days a week, the spokesman said. "He spends most of his time talking to associates and customers," Shinkle said, "and he always comes back with many ideas from them." Wal-Mart calls its sales help associates instead of employees. When Walton first made the Forbes list of richest Americans, recalled Little Rock investment banker Warren Simpson, calls came in from all over about the billionaire from the Ozarks. "They wanted to know about the stock and the company," said Simpson, who works for Stephens Inc. "You'd think that he'd be living in New York or LA, not Bentonville, Arkansas. But now people just accept it. "When it comes out now, it's just, `Yeah, he's still there,"' Simpson said. 
 Joseph B. Gildenhorn, the lawyer and real estate developer named by President Bush as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, and his immediate family gave nearly $230,000 to Republican campaigns since 1984, disclosure statements show. Gildenhorn, according to Senate sources, is one of several Bush ambassadorial nominees who have been rated "unqualified" by the American Academy of Diplomacy, an organization composed of former high ranking diplomats, including all living former secretaries of state. One of a lengthy and growing list of Bush supporters and contributors named to diplomatic posts, Gildenhorn gave $100,000 during the 1988 presidential campaign to the Republican National State Elections Committee. The gift was not subject to the disclosure requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act. The 84 contributions made between 1984 and early this year by Gildenhorn and members of his immediate family are being used by Senate Democrats to illustrate their complaint that too many GOP contributors are being given choice diplomatic posts better reserved for Foreign Service professionals. Gildenhorn said Friday he could not comment because he is "in a confirmation process." A report prepared by the State Department for the Foreign Relations Committee said Gildenhorn would make an "excellent" candidate for an ambassadorship because of his "solid background in law and management." It also cited another qualification. "Mr. Gildenhorn has been a strong Republican supporter being a member of the Eagles and Team 100," the State Department said. The Republican Eagles are contributors of $10,000 or more in a single year to the Republican National Committee, while Team 100 designates people who have donated $100,000 or more. Gildenhorn's political contributions are listed on a disclosure form submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has set a hearing on the nomination for this week. They totaled $14,675 in 1984, $17,000 in 1985; $25,469.97 in 1986; $25,250 in 1987; $104,350 in 1988; and $11,000 this year. The total: $197,744.97. Additionally, his wife, Alma Lee, gave $20,125 over the six years, including $13,000 in 1988; his daughter, Carolyn, gave $2,000; his son, Michael, gave $4,050 and his father, Oscar Gildenhorn, gave $5,750. That brings the total contributions made by Gildenhorn and his family to the GOP to $229,669.97 since 1984. Gildenhorn gave $50,000 during the period to the Republican National Committee or to the Republican Eagles. He gave $2,500 in 1985 and $5,000 in 1986 to the Fund for the American Future, a Bush political action committee and contributed the legal limit of $1,000 to the Bush campaign in 1987. Gildenhorn also gave thousands of dollars to Republican congressional candidates. Included were gifts to the campaigns of Sens. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn.; Bill Cohen, R-Maine; Pete Domenici, R-N.M.; Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; John Warner, R-Va.; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Bob Kasten, R-Wis.; and former Sen. Paula Hawkins, R-Fla. Gildenhorn, 59, is a senior partner in Brown, Gildenhorn and Jacobs, a law firm specializing in real estate. He is also president of the JBG Real Estate Associates and JBG Properties Inc. Gildenhorn is also vice chairman of the board of directors of the Sovran Bank here. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland and Yale University Law School. Other ambassadorial nominees rated as unqualified by the American Academy of Diplomacy include Florida real estate developer Joseph Zappala, nominated as ambassador to Spain; Melvin L. Sembler, a real estate executive in Florida named to be ambassador to Australia; and Della M. Newman, a Seattle, Wash., real estate broker named to be ambassador to New Zealand. No action has been taken by the Senate on any of those nominations. According to Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., who first raised the issue of political contributions, Zappala and Sembler each contributed more than $100,000 to Republican candidates and causes. Mrs. Newman served as chairman of the Washington state Bush for President committee. Ambassador David Popper, president of the Academy of Diplomacy, declined to confirm that Gildenhorn and the other three nominees had been rated as unqualified to become ambassadors. But he said the academy does offer such ratings, making its judgments based on a comparison of the nominee's biography and the requirements of the job. He said the nonpartisan academy has no objections to political appointees as such but does believe political nominees should be qualified to run a complex embassy and represent the United States abroad with "dignity, respect and ability." Twenty of 29 ambassadorial nomination made by Bush in the first six months of his administration have gone to non-professionals, many of them large contributors to Republican causes, committee sources said. Sarbanes says the appointments are larding the diplomatic corps with amateurs rewarded for purely political services. "Political throwaways," Sarbanes calls them. "I think the time has come, very frankly, to get off the money merry-go-round and ask some very difficult questions, essentially about when extensive political contributions are going to be a sufficient basis to gain an ambassadorial nomination," Sarbanes told the committee last month. "It's not true in every instance, but in most of these cases you seem to have to be over the $100,000 mark in order to make the consideration list," Sarbanes said. Sarbanes says he is not against political ambassadors as such, noting that many of them compiled distinguished records. "It is not the political ambassadors that are the problem," Sarbanes said. "It is ambassadors without qualifications." 
 The largest family group to visit black leader Nelson Mandela since he was jailed 27 years ago gathered in Cape Town for a meeting Tuesday with the prisoner on his 71st birthday. His wife, Winnie Mandela, arrived Monday night and indicated she did not expect Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, would be freed soon. She said that opinion came from her husband, who she visited last week after Mandela's July 5 meeting with President P.W. Botha. That meeting sparked speculation that Mandela would be freed this year. He is serving a life term after being convicted of sabotage and plotting to overthrow the white-dominated government. Mrs. Mandela, referring to her earlier visit with her husband, told reporters: "He said from that meeting with P.W. Botha we musn't construe as indicating his release. "His release wasn't even there. In fact it was not on the agenda at all." Mrs. Mandela, dressed in black as an expression of mourning, spoke with reporters at the D.F. Malan Airport. She said the family normally spent Mandela's birthday at home, fasting and praying, but members would visit him this year on his birthday "because he has invited us to come and share it with him." The family said 14 relatives, including children from both of Mandela's marriages, would go to Mandela's house at the Victor Verster prison farm in Paarl, north of Cape Town. In addition to Mrs. Mandela the group will include three of Mandela's children, one daughter-in-law, eight grandhildren and a great-grandson. Mrs. Mandela showed reporters a huge cardboard birthday card in the black, green and yellow colors of the outlawed African National Congress, the largest guerrilla group fighting the government. She said the card was made by members of the National Union of Mineworkers. "It is very nice but it is also at the same time very sad," she said of the planned birthday celebration. "After all, he is not at home." Mandela was allowed to meet last Friday with five other ANC members convicted with him in 1964 of trying to overthrow the government and still imprisoned in Cape Town, according to Dullah Omar, a family friend and attorney. Mandela has been in prison since 1962 when he was sentenced to five years for leaving the country illegally and organizing an illegal strike. He was given a life sentence following the 1964 conviction. Omar said Tuesday's family gathering "will be an occasion with a strong theme of sadness because after the reunion they will leave Mr. Mandela to resume his lonely life." Mandela's oldest grandson, Mandla, 14, arrived Monday evening from Swaziland where he is a student at a private school. Mandla is the son of Makgatho Mandela, the prisoner's eldest son by his first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, who lives in the black township of Soweto and was not expected to join the reunion. Makgatho Mandela came to Cape Town with his wife, Zondi, his daughter Indaba and 4-year-old Thembela, Mandela's great-grandson. Thembela is the grandson of Tembikile Mandela. Tembikile, Mandela's son by his marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, died in an automobile accident in 1970. Evelyn Ntoko Mase, the cousin of ANC leader Walter Sisulu who has been imprisoned with Mandela, married Nelson Mandela in 1944. They had four children. One of their daughters, Makaziwe Mandela-Amuah, arrived with her three children from the United States, where she is studying for a doctoral degree in anthropology at Amherst College in Massachusetts. She said, "He (Nelson Mandela) believes that education is the key to all doors and he would like to see all of his children get an education; in fact all of the black children ... because you cannot claim to want to rule the country and be the leaders of the future if you have people who are untrained and don't have any skills." Mrs. Mandela-Amuah said of her father's possible release, "I always firmly believe that you can't predict what the South African government will do." 
 President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today that thousands of striking coal miners and other workers are urging railway employees to join the work stoppage and that the unrest threatens his economic reforms. Strikes have shut down more than 200 mines and factories in the country's two top coal-producing regions, official reports said. In a report to the Supreme Soviet, Gorbachev said they have resulted in a 1 million-ton drop in coal production. Following Gorbachev to the podium, legislator Anatoly Saunin said each lost work day cost millions of rubles that might otherwise help improve living conditions. "You mustn't hold a knife to the throat" of the government, he told strikers. Saunin, from the Donetsk region of the Ukraine, the country's top coal region, said the number of striking mines there increased from 20 on Tuesday to 58 today. "Now there are reports of calls to railroad workers to join the strike as of Aug. 1," Gorbachev said during the parliamentary session, which was broadcast on television and radio. "Such a development of events poses a threat to the implementation of plans projected by the policy of perestroika," he said, referring to his efforts to restructure the economy. Miners began walking out July 11 in Siberia's Kuznetsk Basin coal region. Workers in other industries in the region soon followed. On Saturday, miners in the Donetsk coal basin began walking off the job. The miners are demanding more local control over their industry as well as higher wages and better living conditions. Gorbachev said he and Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov sent a telegram to miners in the Ukraine assuring them that any concessions granted to Siberian miners would apply to other mining regions as well. He blamed some of the miners' discontent on "anti-socialist" elements but said he understood their basic demands. Government negotiations with strike committees have resolved most of the miners' demands, including those on pensions and overtime, but some longer-term questions will take up to a month to settle, and the miners are refusing any delay, he said. Central authorities have so far balked at granting miners more control over their industry. If the strike spreads to other sectors of the economy, "We may have to take such extreme measures that it will hurt what we've been doing," Gorbachev said, without specifying what steps he would take. He said the lost coal production could not be recovered by increasing the mines' output because they already work at full capacity. Recent reports have put the total number of strikers in the Donetsk and Kuznetsk regions at more than 112,000, but the number appeared to be rising. Because of disrupted coal deliveries, the strike threatened "a catastrophe" at metallurgical and electrical power plants, Tass said. The Politburo sent to Kuznetsk Nikolai N. Slyunkov, a member of the ruling Communist Party body who worked several years in the tractor-building industry and has spoken about labor discipline. He held marathon meetings with strikers Monday night and Tuesday and addressed 30,000 people in the main square of Prokopyevsk, 2,100 miles east of Moscow. Miners in the Donetsk Basin are demanding a 40 percent wage increase for night work, improved living conditions, a fixed day off and retirement after 20 years of underground work. They also demand that the Coal Mining Ministry trim its managerial staff. Tass carried a report Tuesday denying that the Soviet Union's third major coal region, Karaganda in Kazakhstan, also was on strike. A proposed law on ending strikes and other labor conflicts is being rushed through the Supreme Soviet legislature, Tass said. A spokesman for the strike committee in Prokopyevsk, Valery Legachev, said Tuesday that Slyunkov "promised to increase the area's regular food supplies by 20 to 30 percent, as well as soap and washing powder." Izvestia, the government newspaper, reported Tuesday that Slyunkov promised higher pay for night work, longer vacations and a doubling of the wholesale price of coal to pay for the benefits. The strikes are believed to be the nation's worst since the 1920s, when the country was gripped in revolution, civil war and a power struggle. Records from that period are sketchy, but fighting was widespread and industrial production was severely disrupted. Until Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the official media did not report job actions in the Soviet Union. Underground reports described strikes that were of much shorter and not as widespread as those in Kuznetsk and Donetsk. 
 Strikes by tens of thousands of miners in this Siberian coal region spread to four more of the Soviet Union's coal fields, Tass reported today. The official news agency said coal miners in Vorkuta in the far north, the Don River city of Rostov in southwestern Russia and the Ukrainian industrial center of Dnepropetrovsk walked out Wednesday. Miners in the Karaganda region in Soviet Central Asia today refused to work, Tass said. By evening, 14 mines in the region, home of the country's third-largest coal fields, were reported at a standstill. Tass said their demands were similar to those of striking miners in the Donetsk and Kuznetsk coal basins, who are seeking greater local control over their industries and better wages and living conditions. Kuznetsk, in western Siberia, and Donetsk, in the Ukraine, are the country's two leading coal basins and the strikes amount to the country's worst labor unrest since the 1920s. Novokuznetsk is a major city in the Kuznetsk region, where the strikes began 10 days ago. The government has acknowledged that living and working conditions for miners in the regions are abysmal and has made general pledges of improvements. Tass reported Wednesday that some miners in Siberia had returned to work after the government made pay concessions. The government also has promised to send extra meat, butter, sugar, tea, leather shoes, furniture and cars to relieve shortages in the region, the Communist Youth League newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda said today. But the newspaper and Tass reported more disturbances in the Ukraine. Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a communist official in the Donetsk city of Makeyevka as saying, "The scale of the strike is growing. Practically all the coal enterprises of the city have stopped work." Miners in Vorkuta, Rostov and Dnepropetrovsk all walked off the job on Wednesday, Tass said. In Vorkuta, strikers sent a letter to the Kremlin asking for an "urgent resolution of the sharp economic and social problems of the coal sector, and also specific problems of workers of the far north," Tass said. In Rostov, miners' economic demands included extra pay for evening and night shifts, longer vacations and an increase in the price of coal to world market prices, the news agency reported. In Dnepropetrovsk, which is 150 miles from Donetsk, workers' demands mirrored those of Donetsk and Kuznetsk miners. In Karaganda, strikers said they walked out to protest incomplete news accounts of miners' demands in the Kuznetsk strikes, according to Tass. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Wednesday the strikes could imperil his reforms and that there were reports of railway workers being urged to strike. He said that if labor trouble spreads, "We may have to take such extreme measures that it will hurt what we've been doing" to overhaul the economy through greater attention to free-market mechanisms. He did not elaborate. Strikes are rare in the Soviet Union and were ended by force before Gorbachev gained power in March 1985. Tass today said that the Kuznetsk strike had reached "a turning point," with nine out of 11 mining centers back at work. It was not known how many more employees were back on the job today. On Wednesday, Tass said that 24,000 strikers in Kuznetsk were back at work and 150,000 remained on strike. State television said Wednesday that the strike in the Donetsk basin had spread to 70 of its 120 mines, more than triple the previous number, and that mine construction workers had joined. In a report from the Donetsk city of Yenakiyevo, television said steel and coke-chemical plants were "on the verge of a stoppage" for lack of coal. Earlier reports in the official press had said operations at steel and power plants were affected by short supplies of coal and coke. Gorbachev told the national legislature Wednesday that the strikes had deprived the nation of more than 1 million tons of coal. The government has agreed to most miner demands, including those on pensions and overtime, Gorbachev said. But he said that settling some longer-term issues would take up to a month. Tass outlined a concessions package that includes bonus pay to night shifts and for men using jackhammers. Strikers also have complained about poor housing and shortages of consumer goods and food, and the government has made general pledges of improvements in those areas. 
 Coal miners in Siberia ended their strike today after exacting promises of better food, housing and working conditions, but the wave of unrest they launched continued in other key coal regions. Some of the 150,000 miners who went on strike last week in Siberia's Kuznetsk coal basin region returned to work Thursday, and the rest went back today, strike leaders and the official Tass news agency said. Despite announcements that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's sweeping concessions _ including granting miners greater control over their industry _ apply nationwide, hundreds of thousands of miners stayed off the job elsewhere. In the largest coal region, the Donetsk Coal Basin of the Ukraine, more than 300,000 miners were on strike, the deputy minister of the coal industry, Alexander P. Fisun, told Izvestia. In the Karaganda region of the southern republic of Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union's third-biggest coal-producing area, all 26 mines were at a standstill, and miners made more than 70 demands, Izvestia said. Strikes were also reported in the Pechora Coal Basin in the Russian republic, and Chervonograd in the western Ukraine, official media said. The labor unrest is the Soviet Union's worst in six decades. Gorbachev has expressed sympathy for the strikers and placed much of the blame for the miners' deteriorating working and living conditions on leaders of the officially sanctioned trade unions. Still, he and other Communist leaders have warned that if the strikes don't end quickly, coal shortages will shut down much of the country's industry. On Wednesday, the Kuznetsk strike committee and members of a high-level government commission signed an agreement meeting many demands. The workers were promised higher wages, increased deliveries of meat, sugar, soap, clothes, furniture and other consumer goods, more housing construction and _ most important _ a greater voice in running their industry. "It's a victory over the system that we've had in the Soviet Union for the last 70 years, a system in which we work hard but get little in return," said Pyotr A. Menayev, an engineer at the Taldinski Severny open pit mine on the outskirts of Prokopyevsk. Strike committee member Vyacheslav G. Akulov stressed that the miners had agreed to "interrupt the strike, not to end it." He said the miners would hold the government to its word: "If the government doesn't keep its promises, we will go back on strike." The 26-member strike committee met today with a half-dozen representatives to the national parliament and called for municipal elections to be advanced from the spring to the first half of November. The last local elections in Kuznetsk were held two years ago, before Gorbachev's reforms made elections more democratic by offering multiple candidates. The strike wave began 11 days ago in Kuznetsk, the country's second-largest coal field. Tass said late Thursday that strikes had ended at six mines in the Donetsk region but that most mines in the area remained on strike. Miners at three shafts in Chervonograd, near the Polish border, joined the walkout Thursday night, said Anatoly M. Dotsenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Helsinki Watch Group. The coal industry employs more than 1 million workers. Tass today quoted Coal Minister Mikhail I. Shchadov as saying the government agreed to make all Soviet coal operations economically and legally independent. He said authorities had agreed to additional payments for night and evening shifts and to give workers Sundays off. Beginning Aug. 1, mines and other industries in the "coal mining complex" will gain the right to sell for negotiated prices in the USSR and abroad products which they make over and above the state plan," Tass quoted the agreement as stipulating. It said local managers will be able to raise coal prices to reflect actual production costs. Gorbachev is trying to end the longtime Soviet practice of setting prices for goods that bear no relation to their free-market value and encourage and end to central control of the economy. Akulov said that beginning Jan. 1, the Kuznetzk coal basin will become economically autonomous. "The Coal Mining Ministry will continue to run the mines, but the miners will have a much greater say setting production levels and allocating the profits," he said. "Our politics have gotten freer under perestroika," Akulov said of Gorbachev's economic reform program. "But our living conditions have not improved." Until Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, strikes were not tolerated. 
 Ronald I. Spiers, a veteran U.S. diplomat, will be the new undersecretary-general for General Assembly affairs, the top-ranking American post at the world body, U.N. officials said Tuesday. Spiers was ambassador to Pakistan from 1981-83 and has served as ambassador to the Bahamas and Turkey. He replaces Joseph Verner Reed, a banker who served in the post from 1987 until leaving last winter to become chief of protocol for the United States. Although Spiers' nomination as undersecretary-general for Political and General Assembly Affairs and Secretariat Services had been an open secret for months, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced it was effective as of Tuesday. Spiers, 64, is a career foreign service officer, most recently serving as undersecretary of state for management since 1983. Spiers has been a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations; was director of political affairs for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; and was director of NATO Affairs for the State Department. From 1966-69, Spiers was counselor for political affairs in the U.S. Embassy in London. In 1969, he became assistant secretary of State in charge of the department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. When the Bahamas became independent from Britain in 1973, Spiers became the first U.S. ambassador to that nation. He became charge d'affaires in London in 1974, and was minister of the U.S. Embassy there until 1977, when he was appointed ambassador to Turkey. In 1980 he returned to the State Department as director of Intelligence and Research, and was appointed ambassador to Pakistan in 1981. 
 A Florida couple said their pleasure boat was sunk by whales off Costa Rica and they survived 66 days at sea by eating raw fish and drinking purified water, the U.S. Coast Guard reported Sunday. William Butler, 60, and Simone Butler, 52, of Miami, were "weak but recovering" at a hospital in Golfito, Costa Rica, after being rescued by a Costa Rican Coast Guard ship Saturday afternoon, said U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Egbert Vallecillo. The survivors told authorities they lost about 50 pounds each from the ordeal, said Vallecillo, who spoke to the couple by telephone early Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard's Pacific Command is headquartered in Alameda, 10 miles east of San Francisco. William Butler told Coast Guard officials their 40-foot pleasure boat Sibonay was attacked and sunk by "several" whales on June 15 about 1,200 miles southwest of Costa Rica. "They were large, according to Mr. Butler," Vallecillo said. "But he didn't know how many whales." The couple's last radio contact was June 13, when they talked to their daughter in Miami, the Coast Guard spokesman said. Vallecillo said he'd heard of boats running into marine mammals when there's poor visibility, but isn't sure if there are any recorded cases of whale aggression. "This happened in the early morning hours" with good visibility, he said. "This is the first (case) I've documented." As the boat was sinking, the couple said, they grabbed fishing rods and a salt-water purifier and and got into a rubber lifeboat, where they remained for the next two months, Vallecillo said. As the lifeboat drifted slowly eastward over two months, the Butlers said, they caught between 400 and 500 pounds of fish and survived multiple shark attacks by sealing punctures with a raft repair kit. Butler told U.S. Coast Guard officials that several times the couple spotted merchant ships but were unable to flag them down. On Saturday, a Coast Guard ship making its "fisheries" patrol about 30 miles off the coast of Golfito spotted the raft and rescued the couple. They were sailing from Coral Gables, Fla., near Miami, to Honolulu, where they planned to vacation, Vallecillo said. Butler is an experienced sailor, he said. Their daughter, Sally Smith, and son, Bill Butler, were flying to Costa Rica on Sunday evening to be reunited with their parents, Vallecillo said. 
 Emperor Hirohito left $13.06 million in taxable property, a tax office near the Imperial Palace announced Monday. It was the first time that tax authorities have disclosed the amount of an emperor's taxable estate, an official in the Kojimachi Tax Office said. Until the end of World War II, emperors were regarded as living gods. Hirohito died of cancer on Jan. 7 at age 87. He was succeeded by Akihito, his eldest son. Hirohito's wife, Nagako, became empress dowager. Akihito has paid $2.99 million in inheritance taxes on his half of his father's estate, which he divided evenly with his mother. The empress dowager, as Hirohito's spouse, was exempt from paying inheritance taxes, Kyodo News Service reported. The Japanese constitution, drafted by U.S. occupation forces shortly after the end of World War II in 1945, stipulates the emperor is the "symbol of the state and the unity of the people." Hirohito's estate included stocks and other personal belongings. Three sacred treasures _ a mirror, sword and jewels _ which were transferred from emperor to emperor, were tax-exempt, as were about 3,180 items of art owned by Hirohito that were donated to the state, the tax office official said. 
 Bob Hope keeps voluminous files, including the jokes he delivered and people he has performed with, and his first entry under Lucille Ball is an appearance with Hope in 1945 on a show called "G.I. Journal." "I really can't remember many details about it," said Hope, who pays tribute to his frequent co-star in an NBC special Saturday night. It's called "Bob Hope's Love Affair With Lucille Ball." She died in April of this year. That first time together was followed by four movies, frequent visits by Hope on "I Love Lucy" and regular appearances by Lucy on his television shows. "Lucy was a very funny woman," Hope said. "Even in private she could get off a great ad lib. But it's hard to compare her with other funny women. It's like asking who's the best golfer. You have to go to the records. I don't think anyone ever had the success she had. She certainly holds the most records." A secretary dug the details of that first joint appearance out of one of two vaults where Hope keeps everything pertaining to his long comic career. There are written records of all his shows, copies of all the scripts, monologues and comic routines, audio tapes of his radio shows and thousands of other mementos. "G.I. Journal" was on May 4, 1945. Hope's file reads: "Spot: Lucille Ball ... English play ... For Charity Bazaar." Hope and Ball had actually known each other before they began working together. In fact, the late Desi Arnaz, her then husband, worked for Hope first. He said Ball asked him nearly 50 years ago to find a place on his popular radio show for band leader Arnaz. "Stan Kenton was leaving as my orchestra leader," Hope said. "I gave Desi a spot on my show. We also gave him some lines to speak. Every time he walked up to the microphone he dropped an enchilada. He could hardly talk, let alone get a laugh. When they started `I Love Lucy,' I said, `What's going on? This man is funny."' "The night before she died I performed at the Music Center," he said. "Lucy was in the hospital and I saw her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, and said, `Isn't it wonderful she's doing better.' They called me the next day and said she had died. I said, `God has her now, but we'll have her forever.' We'll be watching her performances for a long, long time." "Bob Hope's Love Affair With Lucy" will include clips from their movies and TV appearances, plus such guest stars as Betty White, George Burns and Danny Thomas. "I'm going through everything myself picking out the clips," Hope said. "The last time she was on my show was my birthday show two years ago. We sang `I Remember It Well.' Our last time together in public was at the Academy Awards in March. I think I'll do my tribute to her over a shot of that in the background. I think everyone remembers that." She was on his radio show on May 27, 1947, at Detroit. The program notes say, "Lucille Ball: New York, clothes, cars, pictures." "I could do a fashion show with her walking on stage," Hope said of the show clips he had been watching in preparing the special. "She had great gowns and hairdos. When she performed she would use different styles. She'd change the way she read a line. She'd throw a line away one time, then she'd turn around and milk a line for laughs." Hope recalled his funny co-star in a sunny alcove in the living room of his Los Angeles home. It overlooks the one-hole golf course in the back yard, and he was attired in golfing clothes. Occasionally, he called his office in another building on the grounds to check on a piece of information. Soon after the interview, he was aboard a plane for a series of personal appearances around the country. Ball made 22 appearances on Hope's specials and he was on her shows 10 or 12 times, he said. In their first movie, "Sorrowful Jones" in 1949, Hope played a racetrack bookie who's forced to become the foster father of a young girl whose real father was killed by gangsters in a racehorse fix. Ball was a nightclub singer who helps him look after the girl. It was a remake of "Little Miss Marker," which starred Shirley Temple in 1934. Next was "Fancy Pants" in 1950, a remake of "Ruggles of Red Gap." Ball played a rich rancher who acquires an English butler, played by Hope. "Facts of Life" was in 1960, with Hope and Ball as married lovers who have a tryst. Their last film was "Critic's Choice" in 1963, in which Hope is a Broadway critic who has to review a play written by his wife, played by Ball. "Someone reminded me the other night of a bus tour we did of movie theaters in New York to promote one our of pictures," he said. "I think it was `Critic's Choice.' I found her very cooperative, very wonderful. We always had a lot of fun together." 
 Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina with renewed fury Thursday after thousands of coastal residents in southeastern states grabbed what they could carry and fled inland on jammed highways. "This is a disaster staring us right in the eye," Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said from his City Hall command post in Charleston, where the hurricane downed power lines, snapped trees and caused utility transformers to explode. "All we can do now is pray and hope all the precautions we have taken have been sufficient," Riley said as Hugo's eye bore in on the city. "I just hope and pray we can get through this without any loss of life." By midnight, 119 mph winds were reported in Charleston. The roof cracked at City Hall, a 188-year-old brick building that has withstood several hurricanes, and torrents of water poured into the paneled council chamber. Phone and electric service to the command post was knocked out. Hurricane-force winds first hit the coast by 9:15 p.m. EDT, and about three hours later the eye of the storm passed over the Isle of Palms just east of Charleston, said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. The eye was about 10 miles across and top winds were still at 135 mph. Hugo was expected to turn gradually to the north, causing severe flooding as it moved up the East Coast. The storm posed a 19 percent chance of hitting New York City and a 16 percent chance of hitting Boston before Sunday night, the hurricane center said. As Hugo neared the coast, roads from Hilton Head to Myrtle Beach, 200 miles north, were nearly empty, as were the boarded-up resort towns themselves. Power lines and trees were downed in some spots and water flooded roads. Stop lights and neon lights were knocked out in Myrtle Beach. "One eyewitness said `It's like a light show,"' said Amy Garrison, a reporter at WKZQ AM-FM in Myrtle Beach. In Charleston, the hurricane littered streets with tin roofs, palmetto fronds and chunks of bark. Businesses were closed and classes at public schools and universities canceled. Riley ordered residents of one-story homes to evacuate. Hospitals stockpiled supplies, discharging any patients well enough to go and moving others to hospitals inland to make room for emergency patients, officials said. About 12,000 people had checked into 83 shelters across the state as of Thursday evening, and more were expected, said Bennish Brown, a spokesman for the Emergency Operations Center in Columbia, 220 miles northwest of here. "We tried to close the doors but people are sneaking in side doors," said Elaine Skelton, a registered nurse working at the Conway High School shelter near Myrtle Beach. "We tried to post guards at the doors, but people were still coming in." American Red Cross relief efforts were buckling under the number of evacuees, said Brian Ruberry, a spokesman in Savannah, Ga., who appealed for help. "Right now the Red Cross is sheltering tens of thousands of people all along the Eastern seaboard. This of course is at the same time that we're sheltering 25,000 people on Puerto Rico and the other Caribbean islands. "We're beginning to feel the squeeze. Our resources are very tight. Right now Hugo is shaping up to be one of our biggest relief operations of the decade." At midnight, the center of Hugo was near latitude 32.7 degrees north and longitude 79.9 degrees west, forecasters said. The hurricane's speed had picked up to 22 mph from 20 mph earlier. Near its center, Hugo's muscle reached winds of 135 mph, up from 125 mph earlier in the day and 105 mph the day before. North and South Carolina can expect tornadoes linked to Hugo for the next two days, according to the hurricane center. The coastal area could expect hurricane force winds for 10 to 12 hours once the eye comes ashore, officials said. A hurricane warning was in effect between Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Oregon Inlet, N.C. By late afternoon, Hugo was upgraded to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of strength, the second mightiest category, which indicated it could cause extreme damage. "It strengthened more than we thought it would," Sheets said, adding that Hugo would cause severe flooding as it moved up the Appalachians. The timing of the landfall was critical because of the storm's tidal surge, a dome of water 10 to 15 feet high that would feed a normal 5-foot high tide that peaks after 2 a.m. "On top of that will be waves," Sheets said earlier, and in many places on barrier islands "the buildings will be swept clean off." 
 This historic city has survived the ravages of earthquake, battle and storm in its storied 300-year-history, but it faced perhaps its greatest test of all in Hurricane Hugo. The storm, packing winds of up to 135 mph, raged into Charleston Thursday night. "This is a dangerous, killer hurricane, the likes of which few people who have lived all their lives in Charleston have experienced," warned Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. Hugo was the first major hurricane to strike Charleston since Hurricane Gracie came ashore 70 miles to the south in 1959. The seaside community has suffered through many disasters, both natural and man-made. The worst in recent decades was in 1938 when a tornado tore through the city, killing 32 people, injuring hundreds and causing an estimated $2 million in property damage. Charleston, a city of pastel-colored antebellum structures lining quaint streets and alleyways, is where the Civil War began in 1861. The city has survived the shot and shell of two wars and any number of smaller hurricanes, politely referred to by Charlestonians of refinement as "September gales." But the worst natural disaster to beset the city occurred on the hot night of Aug. 31, 1886, when the ground rumbled in what some folks thought was a prelude to Judgement Day. The great Charleston earthquake was felt as far away as Chicago and New York City. Measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale of ground motion, the earthquake claimed an estimated 110 lives, destroyed 102 buildings and tossed most of the city's 14,000 chimneys into the streets. In recent years, the city has attracted millions of visitors annually who tour its historic buildings and visit its nearby fine sand beaches. Charleston has received international acclaim as home to Spoleto Festival U.S.A., founded by composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Organizers like to refer to Spoleto as the world's most comprehensive arts festival. 
 An explosion rocked the Royal Marines School of Music in a southeastern coastal town today, causing one building to collapse and killing eight people, officials said. Thirty people were injured and up to 18 were missing and feared trapped in the rubble. The blast occurred at at 8:26 a.m. in a lounge in the barracks near Deal, about 70 miles southeast of London, the Defense Ministry said. "The building has collapsed," said a ministry spokesman, speaking anonymously in keeping with British custom. "We've no idea of the cause of the blast at the moment. It is too early to tell." Scotland Yard said a forensic team from its anti-terrorist squad had been called in to help investigate. Firefighters used heavy lifting equipment and thermal cameras to search for those trapped in the debris, said Kent Fire Brigade spokesman Kevin Simmons. Kent police said 17 or 18 people were trapped. The Defense Ministry said seven were missing. Ten doctors gave emergency treatment at the scene and 11 ambulances took the injured to two hospitals, the ambulance service said. "They are suffering from flash burns to their head and arms, fractures, and the sort of injuries you would expect after an explosion," said a spokesman for Buckland Hospital in Dover, 20 miles south of Deal. South Eastern British Gas sent investigators to the scene but said there was nothing to indicate the explosion was caused by a gas leak. Gas supplies to the barracks were cut as a precautionary measure, a spokesman said. Guy Platts, who owns a bookstore in Deal, located 20 miles north of the English Channel port of Dover, said he heard a "massive explosion. ... There are dozens of ambulances, police and fire brigade making their way there." Military targets on the British mainland have been attacked several times by the Irish Republican Army in the past year as part of its campaign to rid Northern Ireland of British rule. One soldier was killed and nine wounded in an IRA attack on an army barracks in north London in August 1988. About 60 soldiers narrowly escaped death or injury in February when they were evacuated from their barracks in Shropshire, western England, just before a bomb exploded. In July 1982, eight soldiers died in IRA bombings near the Household Cavalry barracks at Knightsbridge in central London and at a bandstand in the capital's Regent's Park where an army band was playing. Three people died later and a total of 51 were injured in the bombings. 
 Amid the uproar of live coverage by the major networks and scores of other media organizations, National Hurricane Center forecasters went about their business of monitoring Hurricane Hugo. "The whole system looks chaotic, but it works," said Bob Sheets, the center's director. On one side of a large room dominated by a U-shaped bank of monitoring equipment were the forecasters, making meticulous calculations about where the deadly hurricane will strike and getting emergency operations going in those areas. On the other side were the media _ a pack of reporters, camera operators and technicians, jockeying for seconds of Sheets' time and tidbits of his expertise. In the center was Sheets himself. Surrounded by cameras, wires and two dozen journalists with pads and telephones, the ubiquitous red-headed meteorologist has appeared on television all week next to a large satellite monitor showing colorful images of Hurricane Hugo. During prime news time, competing technicians and cameramen shout and make rude hand gestures for people to get out of their shots of Sheets. At his back, casually dressed forecasters who have been working 12-hour days tracked the storm via computers and satellites. "We obviously don't like this and could probably do a better job, but everyone knows now because of the media," said hurricane specialist Max Mayfield. "In the Caribbean, we were not so certain the word got out. But we know the Carolinas have been evacuated." When a hurricane warning goes into effect, "It's a $50 million statement," said meteorologist Joel Cline, referring to the cost of emergency preparations and evacuation plans that must be implemented when the warning is posted. "If we weren't here, then you wouldn't know that a storm was out there," he said. Before the hurricane warning system was established, a storm of Hugo's power would have cost thousands of lives. But early today, after days of warnings and proper evacuation procedures, there were no immediate reports of deaths despite widespread damage in Charleston and other coastal areas of South Carolina. "I like to think that we make a difference a far as human lives are concerned," Cline said. After Hugo's landfall, Sheets and the other forecasters began to wind down from the hectic pace they had maintained for the last several days. But, he warned, the hurricane center still is following three other weather systems that have moved into the Atlantic between the United States and Africa, and another storm in the Pacific. "I hate to say we're breathing a sigh of relief because people are getting clobbered to death," meteorologist Mark Zimmer said as the storm pounded Charleston, S.C. "But we've done all we can." 
 Neighbors were breakfasting, heading to work or asleep in bed when an explosion at a military barracks turned their homes to rubble and they were confronted with the sight of bodies being carried away. "There was a terrific crash which reminded me of the Blitz. After that, the ceiling started to fall down around me," said Joan Betteridge, a pensioner in the southern England town of Deal, where the blast at the Royal Marines School of Music occurred. The Irish Republican Army claimed reponsibilty for the explosion, which police said killed 11 people and injured 22. Nearby resident Sean Minnock said: "I was asleep but woke up with a hell of a jolt ... the bedroom ceiling fell in on me. I woke to find huge slabs of plaster on the bed and floor." From the wrecked, smoke-clouded barracks, "I could hear terrified screams of agony. People started rushing about all over the place. It was horrible to watch and listen to," said Minnock, 28. "I knew people had been seriously hurt. I saw the rescuers pull out two bodies. I knew they were dead when they put them on the floor and put bed blankets right over them." Minnock's wife, Janet, said the roof of their house was torn off and all the back windows were shattered. "The house has been blown to bits," she said. Mrs. Minnock was feeding her 2-year-old son Thomas his breakfast when the explosion wrecked four terraced houses in the street backing onto the barracks. Her next-door neighbor, Heather Hackett, 26, was standing at her kitchen window facing the barracks, holding her 4-month-old son Luke in her arms. Her other boys, Ben, 3, and Joshua, 2, were at her side. "I looked up from the sink and I just saw the whole building explode," she said. "I told the boys to run and as Joshua turned a sliver of glass embedded itself in his back. "The whole window was blown across the kitchen. I just screamed and ran out of the room. The bang was so loud I thought the whole house was coming in. "At first I thought for sure Joshua had been seriously injured. There was blood coming out of his back." Doctors removed the glass and sent him home. College student Simon Mitford, 17, narrowly escaped being injured in the explosion because he got up earlier than usual. "His room was completely wrecked by the blast," his brother Alex said. Of the barracks, he said: "I heard music playing and then it went bang and there was glass everywhere. It was a two-story building but now 90 percent of it is rubble. "I heard a marine scream out, `The band is under there.' I was scared there was going to be a second explosion." 
 An explosion today flattened a military barracks and tore through nearby homes, killing 11 people and injuring 22, police said. The IRA claimed responsibility for the blast. More than 100 rescue workers frantically dug through the rubble of a three-story building that collapsed at the Royal Marines School of Music near Deal. Stunned neighbors gathered outside homes that were damaged or destroyed. Chief Police Inspector Alan Butterfield of Kent, who who provided the casualty figures and coordinated the rescue effort, first reported that one person was missing but later said everyone was accounted for. He said many of the injured were seriously hurt. "There was a terrific crash which reminded me of the Blitz. After that, the ceiling started to fall down around me," said pensioner Joan Betteridge. Defense Secretary Tom King, inspecting the wreckage, said: "It is not yet absolutely confirmed that it is a bomb, but all the evidence is quite clearly that this is an IRA atrocity." British military installations are a frequent bombing target of the Irish Republican Army in its campaign to rid Northern Ireland of British rule, but today's explosion in the coastal town 70 miles southeast of London was the worst IRA attack on the British mainland in more than seven years. The explosion occurred at at 8:26 a.m. in a lounge in the barracks. One of the bands had just stopped playing on the parade ground, said a ministry spokesman, speaking anonymously in keeping with British custom. Dozens of homes near the school were damaged, including four that were destroyed. Witnesses reported hearing the explosion two miles away. The Defense Ministry would not say how many servicemen and civilians were included in the casualty figures. However, King told reporters the attack was directed against "unarmed bandsmen." Firefighters used heavy lifting equipment and thermal cameras to search through the debris, said Kent Fire Brigade spokesman Kevin Simmons. Ten doctors were giving emergency treatment at the scene and 11 ambulances were taking the injured to two hospitals, the ambulance service said. A statement telephoned to Ireland International, a Dublin news agency, said "we have visited the Royal Marines in Kent" in response to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's visit to Northern Ireland nine days ago. The IRA said Mrs. Thatcher went to the British province "with a message of war," but "we still want peace and we want the British government to leave our country." It was signed P. O'Neill, a nom de guerre the IRA usually uses to claim responsibility for actions outside Northern Ireland. Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey issued a statement in Dublin condemning the attack, calling it an "outrage." The last IRA bomb attempt on the British mainland was in February when about 60 soldiers were evacuated from their barracks in Shropshire, western England, just before a bomb exploded. One soldier was killed and nine wounded in an IRA bomb attack on an army barracks in north London in August 1988. In July 1982, eight soldiers died in IRA bombings near the Household Cavalry barracks in central London and at a bandstand in the capital's Regent's Park where an army band was playing. Three people died later and a total of 51 were injured in the bombings. The music school is the training center for young recruits who want to play in the seven Royal Marines bands. Up to 250 young men, most between 16 and 20, are based at the school, where they receive military and musical training. The roof of Janet Minnock's house was torn off by the force of the blast and all the back windows were shattered. "The house has been blown to bits," she said. "We are all shaken up." Mrs. Minnock's next-door neighbor, Heather Hackett, said she was standing at her kitchen window facing the barracks at the time of the explosion. She was holding her 4-month-old son Luke in her arms with her other boys, Ben, 3, and Joshua, 2, at her side. "I looked up from the sink and I just saw the whole building explode," she said. "I told the boys to run and as Joshua turned a slither of glass embedded itself in his back. The whole window was blown across the kitchen. I just screamed and ran out of the room. The bang was so loud I thought the whole house was coming in." Sean Minnock said: "I was asleep but woke up with a hell of a jolt." As workers tried to patch holes in his roof, he said: "The bedroom ceiling fell in on me. I woke to find huge slabs of plaster on the bed and floor. I wondered what it was. As soon as I got up I looked out of what was left of the window and knew it was the barracks." 
 While Hurricane Hugo's 135 mph wind roared outside, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. watched the fury it vented on his beloved, 300-year-old city. Riley, city officials and a few reporters stayed in Charleston's historic City Hall through Thursday night as the area's worst hurricane in three decades pounded the coastal city where the Civil War began. Late in the day, there was hope Hugo might spare Charleston. But the storm gathered strength and speed as it spun straight toward this city, which had survived a number of near misses from great storms in recent years. From the moment it became apparent Hugo might strike the Southeast coast, many Charlestonians conceded that, this time, their number was up. As Hugo's wind howled outside the plywood boards protecting the windows, reporters wandered in and out of Riley's office. On his desk several candles burned as insurance against the inevitable loss of power. Later there was a sharp crack as a piece of the tin roof ripped off and water seeped down on the burnished wood tables in the City Council chamber. Phone and electric service to the city command post was knocked out. During it all, Riley kept in close contact with the National Weather Service. As the eye of the storm passed, he took reporters onto the porch of the 188-year-old brick City Hall to look at the damage. The initial view, sketched out in the glow of flashlights, was unsettling: The tin roof was tossed in the gutter, slate tiles were scattered on the ground. Bricks, sticks and leaves littered the street. "This is the eye of the hurricane. I've never been in one and I hope I'm never in one again," Riley said. "It's scarcely a late summer breeze." As the storm died before dawn, Riley was out on the streets again in a raincoat carrying a flashlight to get a better assessment of the damage. "Serious but fixable," the mayor concluded. 
 Supercomputers, satellites and the expertise of several hurricane forecasters predicted the destructive path Hurricane Hugo would follow, giving people plenty of time to flee the South Carolina coast. But hurricane tracking remains an uncertain science. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center used computer models to track Hugo's path into Charleston, S.C. "All the world's knowledge about meteorological conditions and forecasting changes in those conditions is embodied in those models," said Thomas Pyke, head of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's satellite service. Pinpointing the exact point of Hugo's landfall was difficult, but forecasters said Friday that the landfall was predicted in time for evacuation. "Overall, I think the tracking models gave us a very good idea where Hugo would be so officials in South Carolina could act in a timely manner," said research meteorologist Colin McAdie. The real forecasting problem with Hugo was predicting the intensity of the storm, which was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane just hours before it slammed into Charleston. "It is very difficult to predict changes in intensity because we don't have very reliable computer models for that," McAdie said. "We really need to improve on our forecasting ability of strength." The hurricane specialists were surprised by the last-minute increase in wind speed, which was reported to them by Air Force reconnaissance. Hurricane specialist Gil Clark, who has tracked hurricanes for 35 years, said that a couple of decades ago, the only forecasting tools were reports from aircraft or ships. "We had no radar or satellites then, so needless to say our forecasts were less accurate," Clark said. In the late 1960s, the weather service began using satellites to obtain a global weather picture. Information from the satellite is used to improve the accuracy of the large-scale models that television viewers see every night. Using the information from the satellite, supercomputers at the National Meteorological Center in Suitland, Md., send information to the hurricane center where a tracking model constantly changes to account for current weather conditions and the position of the hurricane. To determine the track of the storm, the forecasters analyze supercomputer predictions, satellite data, the history of similar storms and the current path of the hurricane. Then they make an educated guess about the landfall. Meteorology professor Kerry A. Emmanuel of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology criticizes the current forecasting system. "Congress and the American people are suffering from the collective delusion that our data problems have been solved by satellites and that just isn't true," Emmanuel said. Satellites can give a "pretty picture," he said, but not enough information about the wind and temperatures that affect a hurricane's path. "Most of the information actually used to predict hurricanes comes from flying airplanes into the hurricane, and they do a very good job," Emmanuel said. Forecasters say the accuracy of satellite pictures is improving every year so long-range forecasting should become more precise. "We have to remember that those models used are only guidance products," Pyke said, "and that it's ultimately the job of the forecaster to predict the storm's path." 
 Here is a chronology of Hurricane Hugo's destructive path across the Caribbean into South Carolina: Sept. 11 _ Forecasters monitor new tropical wave forming off West Africa, southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Sept. 12 _ Storm reaches the 39 mph tropical storm threshold and is named Hugo. Sept. 13 _ Hugo develops into a hurricane as winds reach 74 mph. Storm is about 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles island chain. Sept. 14 _ Winds increase to 115 mph; storm is 650 miles east of Lesser Antilles. Sept. 15 _ Winds reach 150 mph. Storm, designated a Category 4 hurricane, is considered "extremely dangerous." Located 340 east miles of French territorial island of Guadeloupe. Sept. 16 _ Hugo bears down on Guadeloupe and Dominica with winds reaching 140 mph. Sept. 17 _ Eye of Hugo is directly over Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is devasted by winds measuring up to 150 mph. Five people are reported killed, 84 injured and more than 15,000 homeless on the island of 340,000 people. Roofs were torn off, power lines downed and crops damaged. Sept. 17 _ Hugo hits British island of Montserrat. Nine people are killed and hundreds of buildings are flattened. The British government says nearly all of the 12,000 island residents are homeless. Sept. 17 _ On Antigua, two people are killed and there is widespread wind and rain damage. Island hotels report water and wind damage. Sept. 17 _ No casualties are reported on the island of St. Kitts, but houses are damaged and communications nearly severed. Sept. 17 _ On the British Virgin Islands, trees are uprooted and power and communications knocked out. On the resort island of Tortola, residents say there are numerous injuries and scores of homes destroyed. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the popular tourist islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas are hard hit. At least one person is reported killed on St. Croix. Early reports say 97 percent of the buildings were damaged or destroyed on St. Croix, population 53,000. Sailboats were blown out of the water and thrown up to 150 feet on shore in St. Thomas. Some waterfront businesses disappeared. On St. Croix, widespread looting is reported, including raids by machete-wielding gangs. Some reports say prisoners escaped from jail and were roaming free and National Guardsman and police were joining in the looting. Sept. 18 (daybreak) _ Hugo crosses the northeast corner of Puerto Rico. Damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and homes of at least 50,000 people were destroyed or damaged. At least three people are killed. National Guardsmen were aiding the cleanup and trying to stop widespread looting. The Pentagon said some of its facilities, including U.S. Naval Station at Roosevelts Roads in Puerto Rico, were heavily damaged. Sept. 19 _ On the Bahamas, islanders boarded up homes and stocked up as Hugo moved westward. The storm brushes past the islands, with minimal damage, moving on a course parallel to the islands. Sept. 20 _ Headed toward the southeast coast of the United States, Hugo has winds of 105-125 mph. Sept. 21 _ Hugo picks up speed and power. Winds reach 135 mph. Hurricane is again classified as a Category 4 hurricane, capable of extreme damage. Sept. 21 (midnight) _ Hugo crashes into Charleston, S.C., with winds of 135 mph, leveling buildings and flooding streets. In addition to flooding, fires from natural gas leaks erupt in Charleston. Several other coastal communities also suffer heavy damage. Ten people in the Carolinas are killed. Sept. 22 _ The hurricane, with steadily diminishing winds, continues to move inland and is downgraded to a tropical storm. Further weakening is expected as it moves north with its load of heavy rain. Sept. 22 _ Hugo was downgraded to a tropical storm at 6 a.m. Friday. Twelve hours later it had all but lost the characteristics of a tropical storm and was weakening, although the weather system featured maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and torrential rains. Its last location was just west of Pittsburgh, Pa., at latitude 40.5 degrees north and longitude 81 degrees west. Officials said no further tracking would be done. 
 Six novels have been nominated for the Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious fiction award, and bookmakers say the favorite is "The Remains of the Day" by Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro. The award, to be announced Oct. 26, carries a $31,600 prize funded by the Booker McConnell food company. Oddsmaker William Hill gave 7-to-4 odds on Ishiguro's novel about a butler's travels through Britain's West Country and said it was "a firm favorite" to win. Ishiguro, previously nominated for the award, "was beaten as the Booker favorite in 1986, which makes his chances that much stronger this time in our view," said William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe. The other books nominated are: _ "Cat's Eye," a story of painter Elaine Risley and her return to her childhood home in Toronto by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, also a previous nominee. _ "The Book of Evidence," a prison story of kidnap and murder convict Freddie Montgomery by John Banville, literary editor of The Irish Times newspaper. _ "Jigsaw," by Sybille Bedford, an autobiographical novel about an adolescent's travels through Germany, Italy and France. _ "A Disaffection," Scottish novelist James Kelman's story about a school teacher, Patrick Doyle, whose professional frustrations are fueled by a drinking problem and unrequited love for a colleague. _ "Restoration," British author Rose Tremain's story of Robert Merivel, a favorite of King Charles II who married the monarch's youngest mistress. "We expect more interest in this year's Booker Prize than ever before, partly thanks to last year's controversy over Salman Rushdie's `Satanic Verses,"' Sharpe said. Rushdie was nominated for the prize last year but it was won by Australian author Peter Carey for his love story "Oscar and Lucinda." Rushdie, a British citizen, has been in hiding since Feb. 14 when the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered he be killed for allegedly blaspheming Islam in "Satanic Verses." This year's six nominees were chosen Thursday from 102 books considered by a panel headed by David Lodge, a British literary critic and novelist who was nominated for the prize last year for his book, "Nice Work." 
 The IRA bombing that killed 10 men and blew apart a building at the Royal Marines Music School outraged Britons and stirred recriminations over safety standards at the school. A huge explosion in a barracks staff room Friday morning leveled the three-story building as bandsmen took a coffee break between practice sessions on the school's parade ground. Twelve of the 22 people injured were hospitalized, eight of them in serious condition, police said. They said nine of the dead were bandsmen and one other man was not immediately identified. Dozens of neighboring homes in the quiet southeastern English seaside town of Deal were damaged. Although trainees at the school range in age from 16 to 20, Col. John Ware, principal director of music, said the slain bandsmen all were trained, adult musicians. They held military ranks but none had been trained as a fighting soldier. The outlawed Irish Republican Army, engaged in a 20-year-old campaign to drive the British from the province of Northern Ireland, claimed responsibility in a telephone call to Ireland International, a Dublin news agency. Residents of the area adjoining the Marines school said Friday that despite government calls for stepped-up public alertness against terrorists, security at the school had eased noticeably. "Anyone in Deal will tell you how easy it is to get into the base," said Fred Verge, a 70-year-old army veteran. Local people laid wreaths and bouquets of flowers at the entrance to the barracks. "There is a great sense of anger" in the community, Kent police Chief Constable Paul Condon said. The Royal Marines Music School is one of 30 military establishments in Britain that use private security firms, Defense Ministry figures show. Unidentified defense sources quoted by the Times newspaper today said the civilian guards were backed up by armed Marines who patrolled regularly inside the perimeter. Defense Secretary Tom King promised a security review and said new measures had already been taken at the base. He did not elaborate. Martin O'Neill, the opposition Labor Party's spokesman on defense, said on Friday: "Serious questions must be asked about the penny-pinching policy of the Ministry of Defense, which may well put our armed services at dreadful risk." O'Neill later told British Broadcasting Corp. television the IRA was "prepared to take out anybody. The cowardly nature of their attacks is such that every military establishment is under threat." He said private security firms were assigned to areas considered low risks for attacks. "If we designate places as being low-risk categories, then it is likely they will be attacked, given the way that the IRA is forced to operate," O'Neill added. "The big prizes are no longer available to them, so they're picking off the ones which they regard ... vulnerable." Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher received news of the bombing while aboard a jet over Siberia en route from Japan to Moscow. She called it a "deeply serious outrage." King visited the scene soon after the explosion. "I know that the people who committed it, the godfathers who sent them, actually know in their hearts that it is not going to make any difference; that it is just killing for the sake of killing," he said. The defense minister, anger clearly written on his face, said that rather than erode the will of the security forces, the attack "redoubles their determination to ensure that terrorism cannot win." Prime Minister Charles Haughey of Ireland condemned the attack and sent Mrs. Thatcher a message of sympathy at "this outrage ... which has caused severe and tragic loss of life and many injuries." The mainly Roman Catholic IRA claim gave no details of the operation, but said it was a response to a "message of war" delivered by Mrs. Thatcher when she visited Northern Ireland nine days ago. It was an apparent reference to her speech praising the locally recruited Ulster Defense Regiment as "a very, very brave group of men" who have lost 179 members in IRA attacks since 1970. The mainly Protestant UDR is regarded by many Catholics as a sectarian force, and is at present under a cloud over allegations that some recruits leaked names, addresses and photos of IRA suspects to Protestant assassins. British military installations are a frequent target of the IRA campaign. Friday's attack was the worst since July 1982 when 11 servicemen were fatally wounded in two bombings in central London. The music school trains young recruits for the seven Royal Marines bands. Up to 250 young men, most ages 16 to 20, undergo military and musical training there, working with older, professional bandsmen. 
 The "greenhouse effect" may breed bigger and deadlier hurricanes in the future, storms up to 50 percent stronger than Hugo and last year's record-setting Gilbert, some meteorologists say. Hugo blasted the eastern Caribbean and the Carolinas with 135 mph winds this past week, killing at least 41 people. Just before Hugo struck the U.S. coast, its pressure was measured at 940 millibars. That made it among the 12 strongest hurricanes this century to hit the United States, the National Hurricane Center's Miles Lawrence said today. Gilbert, whose winds reached 180 mph, tore up the Caribbean last year, killing 300 and causing $2 billion damage. It was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded. Gilbert seems to be about the upper limit of a hurricane with current ocean temperatures, said Kerry Emanuel of the meteorology department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But if the seas warm up, say by 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit, "the wind speeds might be 25 percent higher _ which means the destructive force would be more like 50 percent higher," he said. Stephen Schneider, deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Denver, said his research suggests the warming trend is already here. Schneider, an expert on the greenhouse effect and author of a new book "Global Warming," said six of the 10 hottest years in the last 100 occurred in the 1980s. He projects that the 1990s will be even hotter. Hugo demonstrated the effect of warm Atlantic waters when its winds jumped from 105 mph to 135 mph as it passed over the Gulf Stream before hitting the East Coast, Schneider said. "You'll get worse hurricanes if the Caribbean is warmer," he said. "And I think there are better-than-even odds that you will have stronger hurricanes." Emanuel said if the ocean temperature climbs, moderate hurricanes of the future could grow to Gilbert's strength _ and future Gilberts will be even stronger. Gilbert was so strong that Bob Sheets, director of the national hurricane center, said forecasters may have to use an intensity scale of 1-6 in the future, instead of the current 1-5, with five the highest. The computer models Schneider uses show that in a worst-case scenario, over the next 100 years the world's temperature could jump by 10 degrees if carbon dioxide and methane gas _ which both contribute to the greenhouse effect _ continue to pour into the atmosphere unchecked. It is possible that even though the world as a whole heats up, the Caribbean could somehow remain cooler. But he said that is unlikley. "That's not what the models are showing," Schneider said. "And that's another reason I'd like to slow down global warming." 
 Family members on Saturday grieved for their slain loved ones and criticized the security arrangements at the Royal Marines Music School, where an IRA terrorist attack killed 10 military musicians. Jean Cleatheroe, whose son Andrew was killed, joined local residents and opposition politicians in denouncing the use of private security firms to protect the music school and 29 other military establishments in Britain. "The security at those barracks was absolutely abysmal. We had seen it for ourselves. We have always said how easy it would be for anyone to get in ... What could ordinary security men do to stop terrorists?" she said. British military installations are a frequent target of the IRA's campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the predominantly Protestant province with the mainly Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland. Friday's attack was the worst since July 1982, when 11 servicemen were fatally wounded in bombings in central London. Shocked residents of Deal gathered outside the barracks to lay flowers in tribute to the young men they called the "Bandies." An 11-year-old Royal Marines cadet in full dress uniform marched to the barracks and smartly saluted the Royal Marines sign. "I'm proud of my uniform and I'm proud of all the Marines I knew. I hate the people who did this to them," said Scott Roberts. Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, spiritual leader of the Church of England, visited the injured and said he was impressed "by their strength and determination that evil will not defeat them." Runcie said one of the men's main concerns was that their hands would heal properly so they could continue playing their musical instruments. Police investigating the attack were searching a nearby house that had been rented briefly by three men with Irish accents. "We know when the men arrived and when they left," Cmdr. George Churchill-Coleman, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad, said at a news conference. "It appears the men left several days before the explosion." He said the house, which overlooks the barracks recreation center destroyed by the Friday morning blast, was rented by its English owners to three men for two to three weeks. There was no proof the house was an IRA hideout, the commander said. "By virtue of the fact that the house is very near the base and the men are Irish, we are very anxious to talk to them," he said. Explosives experts wearing white protective overalls were painstakingly examining the house Saturday, and Churchill-Coleman said they would continue for the next two or three days. Police said all 10 men killed during a coffee break between morning band practices were servicemen. Of 22 men injured, 12 remained hospitalized Saturday, five in serious condition. The Irish Republican Army on Friday claimed responsibility for the explosion, which also severely damaged several nearby houses. Police have not determined what caused the blast, but Churchill-Coleman said, "It would seem to be some form of improvised device using high explosives." The IRA did not specify how it caused the blast. 
 Prince Philip on Sunday condemned the "senseless" killing of 10 Royal Marines musicians in an IRA bombing, and Britain's defense secretary said he warned all military bases of the risk of similar attacks. Clergyman urged relatives and friends of dead and maimed musicians to forgive the bombers. "Only forgiveness breaks the tie between the hater and the hated," the Rev. George Lings told mourners. The prince, husband of Queen Elizabeth II and captain general of the Royal Marines, visited injured men in the hospital and toured the severely damaged Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, southeast Britain. "It will not help the IRA win anything," said Philip, who wore a Royal Marines tie. "It is senseless. One simply wonders what sort of mentality can even contemplate such meaningless acts. It is appalling." He paid tribute to the 12 injured men, five of whom were critically wounded. The prince was accompanied by Viscountess Mountbatten, daughter of Lord Mountbatten, who was killed by an IRA bomb on his boat in 1979. Mountbatten was India's last viceroy and a cousin of the queen. British military installations are a frequent target of the Irish Republican Army in its campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the predominantly Protestant province with the Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland. Defense Secretary Tom King said Sunday he has issued an alert to all military installations to prevent other attacks. He would not give details. "The perpetrators of the latest outrage are at large and there is a risk of other attacks," King said. "That is why we are taking a number of other steps." King defended the use of private security firms hired to guard the Deal school and 29 other "low-risk" military installations in Britain. Local residents and grieving relatives have said security was lax and should be turned back to the marines. King said the private firms will remain. "It is important to remember that what we need in these cases are eyes and ears and observation," King said on British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Private security guards can be a very useful additional assistance. They also help to reduce the amount of time soldiers have to spend on what is not the most enjoyable part of their activity." At church services throughout the small port, clergymen urged mourners to pray for and forgive the bombers. The Rev. Charles Howard, a Royal Navy chaplain, asked the 300-member congregation inside the barracks, "if you can find room in your hearts ... pray for the men who perpetrated this terrible act, that God will soften their hearts and turn them from their violent and evil ways." Many cried as Howard read aloud the names of the 10 servicemen killed during a coffee break between band practices. It was the worst IRA attack on the British mainland since July 1982. At nearby St. George's Church, formerly the Royal Marines' church, Lings said, "no one says forgiveness is easy; no one says the terrorist deserves forgiveness. "But ... forgive them, they not what they do." 
 Three decades ago, a West German politician said German reunification was a "sleeping lioness" that would awake one day with a mighty roar. Now, there is growing speculation the awakening may be at hand to create a giant political and economic machine that could dominate Europe. "Reunification is coming closer, but I can't say whether it will take 10, 15 or 20 years," says West German conservative lawmaker Eduard Lintner. "We have the impression that things are much more concrete than we could have imagined five years ago." The daily sight of thousands of refugees fleeing East German leader Erich Honecker's hard-line Communist rule for the capitalist West has revived international interest in the debate. Once dismissed as a nostalgic daydream, the idea of German reunification has gotten a public nod from President Bush and something short of a categorical "no" from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. The idea makes East German leaders virtually apopletic. "If there were a free choice under the present circumstances in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), certainly 80 percent to 90 percent would vote for national reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany," added the 44-year-old Lintner in an Associated Press interview. The West German constitution calls for a united Germany, but it has not been a paramount concern of the West Germans in the years since the ruins of Nazi Germany were divided into East and West at the end of World War II. Full national reunification would completey rework the postwar European order mapped out by the conquering Allies. It is a prospect that creates unease in Britain and France, and in Poland in the East bloc. London's prestigious Sunday Times on Sept. 10 mapped out a possible scenario that includes massive troop reductions in Europe, Honecker's death and further Westernization of Poland and Hungary. "Moscow unilaterally abolishes the Warsaw Pact after guarantees from Poland and Hungary they will not join other alliances," the Times' futuristic view continued. "West Germany withdraws from NATO; and a referendum in both East and West Germany votes for reunification and neutrality." That sort of talk is being heard more and more as Moscow loosens its hold on the East bloc and countries like the Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary explore democratic reforms. The implications of pulling down the Berlin Wall and other barriers to link the two German states are enormous and, for many, ominous. As much of Western Europe heads towards its own unification in 1992, the economic center of gravity would be shifted even further to the German side with a powerhouse of nearly 80 million people _ 61.1 million West Germans and 16.6 million East Germans. West Germany is already Europe's largest exporting nation, and despite its many flaws East Germany's economy is the envy of many Soviet bloc neighbors. A unified Germany could become the political focal point of a continent already in flux, as democratic movements sweep parts of the Soviet bloc. Older generations recall eerie echoes of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's boasting that he had brought about "the unity of the German nation." Eva Kulesza, head of research for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the French Institute of International Relations, says she believes that "as far as public opinion there is new sort of mistrust toward Germany. "This new fear of Germany is linked to German economic trends. Germany is much stronger, much more dynamic than France," she added. Since West Germany and East Germany are at the front lines of two competing alliances, any signs for eventual reunification would have to come from Washington and Moscow. During a news conference last week in Montana, Bush said that reunification is a "matter for the Germans to decide." But he added: "If that (reunification) was worked out between the Germanys, I do not think we should view that as bad for Western interests." For his part, Gorbachev evaded the issue during a news conference in Bonn in June, saying only, "the situation in Europe today was determined by historical realities." Outside Germany, political leaders and commentators have been sharply divided on the issue. "In thinking about the German Question, we ought not to be governed by old prejudices and out-of-date assumptions," wrote commentator Peter Jenkins in London's The Independent. "The Cold War was conducted in the name of freedom and, today, if the coming of freedom to East Germany brings a desire for unity which finds its echo in the Federal Republic, we ought not to be opposed." Willy Brandt, the Social Democrat who sought greater ties to the East as chancellor in the 1970s, said German unity doesn't necessarily mean a single state although he called reunification a "hypothesis that cannot be excluded." As talk grows in the West, the positions against reunification almost seem to harden in East Germany, as people leave the country in near-record numbers. More than 100,000 East Germans are expected to resettle in West Germany this year, leaving a gaping hole in the Communist nation's work force. Little is likely to change in East Germany as long as the 77-year-old Honecker and his aging comrades stay in power. During a September 1987 visit to Bonn, Honecker called respect for Europe's present borders a basic condition of peace. "Socialism and capitalism can't be any more united than fire and water," Honecker added on the issue of reunification. There are virtually no indications that Honecker's successors will be inclined to democratic reforms, let alone joining the capitalist West. The calls for reunification have already found a sympathetic ear among some leaders of the Polish Solidarity movement, in the country that suffered some of the Nazis' most brutal savagery. "After all, the abnormal situation of the German nation overshadows the whole of Polish-German relations," member of Parliament Adam Michnik wrote on Monday in the pro-Solidarity daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, which he edits. The renewed talk of reunification is recalling the nearly prophetic words of Reinhold Maier, a prominent West German state governor who later went on to head the centrist Free Democratic Party. "Reunification is resting in our midst like a sleeping lioness. Tired and weak, indecisive people in West Germany are trying not to disturb her sleep," Maier predicted in 1955. "The lioness will one day wake up, blink, snap her her tail and start to roar." Still, many in both East and West still agree with the 1967 quip by Nobel Prize-winning French author Francois Mauriac: "I love Germany so much, I'm delighted that there are two of them." 
 Residents took forecasters at their word when they warned of Hurricane Hugo's fury, and the low number of deaths from the powerful storm can be credited to this healthy respect, authorities said. The storm, which caused billions in damage, claimed 17 lives in South Carolina, and only two were in the Charleston area, which bore the brunt of Hugo's 135 mph winds. "We just feel very thankful about that," said Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. "Several thousands of people who were in the shelters and the tens of thousands of people who evacuated inland were potential victims of injury and death." Riley and other officials credited residents with monitoring the hurricane as it spun toward Charleston, and heeding evacuation warnings. The last big storm to hit South Carolina was Hurricane David in 1979, which hit the coast after pounding southern Florida. Since then several big storms have threatened but veered away, and officials were worried that Charlestonians wouldn't heed Hugo's warnings. "We've had so many close calls," said Gary Garnet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "But this storm was very, very strong," he said. "This time they realized it." Glen Ellis, a Red Cross official, estimated that 18,000 residents in Charleston and the three surrounding counties headed for shelters. Tens of thousands more got into their cars and headed up Interstate 26 toward Columbia. Mayor John Bourne of North Charleston, where there apparently were no storm-related deaths, credited people for heeding the warnings. "It was bad, but it could have been a lot worse," he said. "You've just got to say nice things about the people." Meanwhile, Garnet had some good news for storm-weary Charlestonians: late Saturday the tropics were quiet with no other storms brewing. "There's nothing to worry about out there," he said. 
 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Monday the Irish Republican Army members who blew up the Royal Marines School of Music and killed 10 bandsmen last week are "monsters" who will be found and punished. "The young men whom we lost were murdered by common murderers who must be found and brought to justice and put behind bars for a very long time," she said following a tour of the school's wrecked barracks in Deal, southeast England. "We lost 10 remarkable musicians, not fighting men, just because some people try to bomb others out of their democratic views," she said. "They are very evil people, absolute monsters." Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the legal political arm of the IRA, issued a statement disputing Mrs. Thatcher's remarks, saying "she knows in her heart of hearts the real nature of the conflict, its cause and the remedy." The IRA is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the predominantly Protestant province with the Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland. "We want an end to all violent deaths arising out of the present relationship between our two countries," Adams said. "We want a new peaceful relationship based on an acceptance and respect for our rights as a sovereign nation." After visiting some of the 11 injured bandsmen still in the hospital, Mrs. Thatcher pledged: "The hunt for the bombers will be pursued with all possible speed, vigor and dedication." Raymond Kendall, the secretary-general of the international police organization Interpol, pledged the organization's full support in the hunt for those who blew up the school. "I hope we will have a part to play in finding them," said Kendall after opening the International Police Exhibition and Conference in London. "They are criminals of the worst sort and should be dealt with as such." Before landing in Deal, Mrs. Thatcher's helicopter flew over the rubble that had been the band's recreation center. The IRA claimed responsibility for the explosion, and police said they are looking for three men with Irish accents who rented a house overlooking the barracks. 
 It's taken the devastation caused by Hurricane Hugo to stimulate repayment of a 211-year-old debt between two cities almost 1,000 miles apart. As a way of repaying a kindness dating to 1778, Kingston is raising money to help Charleston, S.C., recover. After Kingston, then New York's capital, was burned in October 1777 by the British, New York Gov. George Clinton received a letter from South Carolina Gov. Abraham Livingston. The letter included nearly 1,000 New York pounds to help Kingston residents get through their crisis. "This money has been received for the charitable purpose of alleviating the distresses of the now-indigent inhabitants of the town of Kingston, who by the ravages of the enemy are reduced to poverty and want," Livingston wrote on March 31, 1778. Kingston Historian Edwin Ford remembered the letter when Hurricane Hugo ravaged the Carolinas last week. "I figured they helped us, we should do something for them," Ford said. On Wednesday, a local Red Cross chapter began collecting donations for victims of the hurricane. "A lot of people have been calling, asking to send donations down there," said Susan Lawlor, executive director of the Ulster County Chapter of the Red Cross. On Tuesday, New York state sent two airplanes full of food, clothing and water to parts of the Caribbean ravaged by Hugo. A New York National Guard C-5A cargo plane also left Tuesday to pick up equipment in Mississippi and take it to Puerto Rico. Another cargo plane was scheduled to leave Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, taking 70 tons of food, water and other supplies to Puerto Rico. 
 A major earthquake rocked northern California Tuesday evening, collapsing part of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and shaking Candlestick Park and buildings up to 95 miles away. Some buildings may have collapsed, said Police Officer D. Collins. There were reports of injuries at Candlestick, where fans were waiting for the World Series to begin, and the stadium was evacuated, ABC-TV and Cable News Network reported. The quake, which lasted about 15 seconds, measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, according to seismologists at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The preliminary reading was from the Alaska Tsunami warning system, Caltech said. Televised footage of the bridge showed that a 30-foot section of the span's upper deck had collapsed onto the bottom level. Fans at Candlestick screamed as the stadium swayed for about 15 seconds. Players from the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics were on the field and stood around as fans began to leave their seats. Buildings in San Francisco swayed several feet. The quake shook buildings in Sacramento, 95 miles to the northeast, and was felt as far away as Reno, Nev., 225 miles to the east. The quake knocked out phones and power, including electricity at The Associated Press' bureau in San Francisco. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. Every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude. Thus a reading of 7.5 reflects an earthquake 10 times stronger than one of 6.5. An earthquake of 3.5 on the Richter scale can cause slight damage in the local area, 4 moderate damage, 5 considerable damage, 6 severe damage. A 7 reading is a "major" earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage; 8 is a "great" quake, capable of tremendous damage. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which occurred before the Richter scale was devised, has been estimated at 8.3 on the Richter scale. 
 A violent earthquake rocked Northern California during Tuesday evening's rush hour, caving in a section of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, terrifying World Series fans in Candlestick Park and shaking buildings as far as 200 miles away. CBS-TV reported one person had been killed on the bridge. There were no other immediate confirmed reports of deaths or injuries, but ABC-TV and CNN both said some people were injured at Candlestick, where the game was canceled and fans were evacuated. It was not immediately clear how extensive the damage was from the quake, which struck at 5:04 p.m. PDT and registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. It was centered near Hollister, 80 miles southeast of San Francisco in San Benito County. "The thing struck just as everyone was going home," said Tom Mullins, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento. "We've got reports coming in from San Benito and Santa Clara counties of heavy damage." CBS said the California Highway Patrol reported a J.C. Penney building in downtown Hollister collapsed and a bridge on Highway 101 in Hollister collapsed. There were unconfirmed reports that a shopping mall collapsed in San Jose, 50 miles south of San Francisco. San Francisco Airport was evacuated, and some people there were hit with falling plaster. One major fire was blazing in San Francisco's Marina District and another near the library at University of California at Berkeley. A huge plume of smoke visible for miles over Berkeley. Hundreds of people fled Bay Area Rapid Transit subway and elevated stations in San Francisco and East Bay suburbs. The system was shut down. Televised footage of the bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco showed that a 30-foot section of the upper deck had collapsed, leaving two cars dangling between the two levels. Reports said most occupants got out of their cars safely. In Washington, President Bush said the federal government was prepared to send help to the earthquake area in California and he was sending Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner there to assess the damage. At City Hall in San Francisco a radio reporter told listeners, "The entire building started to shake ... you could hear people yelling and screaming all over the building." She said there were "obvious problems" at the health department across the street. "Water was literally gushing out of the building from a window on the second floor," the unidentified reporter said. Citizens of Marin, north of San Francisco, were warned to shut off their gas because the smell of gas was all over town. Frank Baldwin of U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Center said the quake's magnitude was 6.9 on the Richter scale. It occurred at 5:04 p.m. PDT and was centered in the Santa Cruz, Calif., area, 75 miles south of San Francico on the Pacific Coast. The quake was felt as far away as Reno, Nev., 225 miles to the northeast. The quake knocked out phones and power, including electricity at The Associated Press bureau in San Francisco. The San Mateo bridge, which crosses the bay about 10 miles south of Candlestick Park was closed for inspection. San Francisco Police Officer Dwayne Collins said there were reports that buildings and statues in the historic South of Market district near downtown had collapsed. "I thought I was losing my balance, then I saw the lamppost sway one foot each direction. Then I saw falling glass, broken glass on the street, but luckily not near me, " said Les Galvacs who was walking down Market Street in downtown San Francisco. David Balague, 22, was on the 14th floor of the Bank of America building. "I've never been so scared. People were fighting to get under the desks." Fans at Candlestick screamed as the stadium swayed shortly before the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were to have begun the third game of the World Series. "This upper deck was absolutely shaking, the light stanchions were blowing back and forth, phones have gone out," Suzyn Waldman, a reporter covering the World Series for WFAN-AM in New York told listeners shortly after the quake hit. "Everyone is standing around here, people in the upper deck absolutely terrified to move not knowing what to do." A man in Saratoga, southwest of San Jose, told a San Francisco radio station, "My house is OK, but everything in it is gone. My refrigerator is standing in the middle of the kitchen." He said 10,000 gallons of water from his swimming pool crashed through his picture window into his home. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. Every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude. Thus a reading of 7.5 reflects an earthquake 10 times stronger than one of 6.5. An earthquake of 6 on the scale can cause severe damage. A 7 reading is a "major" earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which occurred before the Richter scale was devised, has been estimated at 8.3 on the Richter scale. 
 The major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday occurred in a region seismologists targeted as having the highest probability of a strong quake in Northern California. A 1988 report by the U.S. Geological Survey placed the probability of an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude on the Richter scale at 30 percent by the year 2018 in the Southern Santa Cruz mountains. The high probability is based on several factors, including length of time since the last major earthquake struck the area in 1906, said Clarence Allen, professor of Geology and Geophysics at the California Institue of Technology in Pasadena. "This is not to say we predicted the earthquake. It just has to do with the probability of an earthquake in this area," Allen said. He noted that the 1988 report, titled "Probabilities of Large Earthquakes Occurring in California on the San Andreas Fault," presented information that was already widely known among scientists. Allen said this information should have alerted officials to take preventive steps. Frank Baldwin of U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Center said the quake's magnitude was 6.9 on the Richter scale. It was centered in the Santa Cruz, Calif., area, 75 miles south of San Francico. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. A reading of 6 can cause severe damage. A quake of 7 magnitude, a "major" earthquake, is capable of widespread heavy damage. Initial reports indicated widespread damage from Tuesday's quake, especially affecting highways and old masonry buildings. "It's not like an earthquake of this size in this area is a calamitous event. It's something we should therefore be ready for," Allen said. The damage in the Bay area occurred to the same kind of structures heavily damaged in the 1987 Whittier quake in the Los Angeles area, which registered a 5.9 Richter reading, Allen said. "I think we'll learn a lot from an engineering point of view from this earthquake," he said. "What will be important is to see how the modern structures behaved." Allen said many of the same kinds of older structures that appeared to have been damaged in San Francisco also exist in the Los Angeles region. In addition, some of the roadways and overpasses in the area have roughly the same kind of construction as the Bay Bridge. In some areas of Southern California, there is a higher probability of a major quake occurring. The highest, the USGS says, is in the central California town of Parkfield, where there is a 90 percent probability of a magnitude 6 earthquake by the year 2018. 
 Ever since the 1906 earthquake devastated San Francisco, many scientists have believed the next "big one" would strike the Los Angeles end of the mighty San Andreas Fault. But studies in recent years have reminded the Bay Area that it also faced another seismic disaster, and those studies became a reality Tuesday when a quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale rocked the Bay area. A 1985 paper in the Geophysical Research Letters predicted a 6.9-magnitude quake could happen any time on a portion of the San Andreas Fault that stretches 50 miles from Palo Alto southward through the Santa Cruz Mountains and on to San Juan Bautista. The quake was centered on the San Andreas segment described in the article, but Tom Heaton, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena, said it wasn't clear yet whether it broke all or part of the 50-mile segment. The epicenter of the quake was about 8 miles northeast of Santa Cruz and 75 miles south of San Francisco. The 1985 study, by Columbia University geology professor Christopher Scholz, was among several that produced conflicting estimates on the likelihood and size of the quake that finally happened Tuesday. These studies gave various interpretations of how much stress inside the Earth was released by the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which had a magnitude of about 8.3 and killed at least 2,500 people. The bigger a quake, the more stress it relieves, and thus the longer it takes for the same size quake to happen again. Scholz pointed to evidence that the 1906 quake didn't relieve as much stress in the Santa Cruz Mountains as other scientists believed. That suggested a bigger quake might happen in the San Francisco Bay area sooner than some believed. Others disagreed. Faced with conflicting estimates, the Geological Survey issued a July 1988 report that it said represented a consensus on the debate. The report said the 50-mile segment had a 20 percent likelihood of producing a magnitude-7 quake within 30 years. It said the southernmost 20 miles of that segment had a 30 percent chance of generating a magnitude-6.5 quake within 30 years. Tuesday's jolt was centered within those southernmost 20 miles of the fault segment. "Clearly, scientists had identified this segment as a particularly hazardous one," Heaton said. "There was some debate about the length of the rupture and the size of the earthquake." The last great southern California quake, in 1857, killed very few people in a region that was then sparsely populated. Thus most assumed that Los Angeles, not the Bay Area, would fall victim to the next seismic catastrophe; the 1988 USGS report cast doubt on this assumption. Federal emergency officials have estimated that the next "big one" _ a quake like the 1906 San Francisco quake _ could kill 3,000 to 14,000 people in southern California, and 3,000 to 11,000 people in the Bay Area. As bad as Tuesday's quake was, "it was not a 1906 earthquake," Geological Survey director Dalas Peck said. "The question is not whether a big earthquake is coming. The question is when," Peck said. 
 Most San Francisco-area homeowners may have to pay for damage from Tuesday's earthquake out of their own pockets, while insurance companies may reap long-term benefits from higher rates, industry spokesmen and analysts said Wednesday. Only 15 percent to 20 percent of California homeowners have earthquake insurance, which typically requires a 10 percent deductible and costs between $200 to $400 a year for a $100,000 home, according to industry spokesmen. The Association of California Insurance Cos. in Sacramento said that in the San Francisco area roughly 25 to 30 percent of the homes have earthquake insurance. The organization estimated residential damages from Tuesday's earthquake at $500 million in the Bay area, with between $100 million to $150 million insured. Insured homeowners without earthquake protection will get reimbursed only if their homes were ravaged by fire, which is covered under basic homeowner insurance polices, said Hugh Strawn, director of catastrophe services at the Property Loss Research Bureau in Schaumburg, Ill. Insurance companies attempted Wednesday to assess the amount of quake-related damages they're likely to have to pay. In addition to home damage, the companies likely will get claims for automobile damage, broken glass, theft and burglary, business interruption due to electrical outages, water damage and, possibly, workers compensation. Some estimated that insurers might face bills totaling $1 billion or more from the quake. But industry observers said they don't expect any company to suffer serious financial damage from quake-related claims. "We don't think any company is going to have problems paying claims," said Elisa Siegal, public affairs manager for the American Insurance Association, a Washington-based trade group. The insurers actually could benefit. Industry analysts predicted insurers would be able to reverse three years of declining rates and win rate hikes from state regulators due to the quake damages and the estimated $4 billion in damages from Hurricane Hugo, which hammered South Carolina and other parts of the southeastern United States earlier this month. An increase in insurance rates could translate into greater profitability in the long term, the analysts said. "There's a perception that this could turn the cycle ... that this could be enough to firm pricing," said Gloria L. Vogel, an analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in New York. Despite their predictions for the long run, the analysts warned that fourth-quarter earnings among insurance companies are likely to be disappointing. "It's going to be a meaningful loss, perhaps as big as Hugo," said Robert Glasspiegel, an analyst with Hartford-based Langen McAlenney. On the New York Stock Exchange, some insurance company stock rose on Wednesday. Aetna Life & Casualty Co. rose $2.37{ to $59.50 a share; ITT Corp., parent of The Hartford, was up 37{ cents to $59; and the Travelers Cos. rose $1 to $40.87{. Reinsurance companies, which absorb risk from policy writers, did especially well. General Re Corp. rose $2.75 to $86.50 and Marsh & McLennan Cos. rose $3.12{ to $75.87{. In California, earthquake insurance is an emotional and politically-charged issue. Roughly two-thirds of all insurance policies written in the United States are sold in California, where many of the nation's most damaging earthquakes have occurred.. Under a 1985 California law, insurers are required to offer earthquake insurance to homebuyers, but homebuyers are not required to buy the coverage. Insurers aren't required to offer earthquake insurance to commercial property owners, but the percentage of business property with the coverage is very high, industry spokesmen said. They estimated that at least 25 percent, and probably many more, business properties are insured. Because of its high costs, earthquake insurance has become a target of the controversial Proposition 103 approved by California voters last year. The proposition calls for a 20 percent rollback in insurance rates. Insurers and state regulators are battling over the rates and how they're set. 
 Private groups and officials from Tokyo to London to Charleston, S.C., offered help to the ruptured San Francisco Bay area, but some said relief for the earthquake could drain coffers already strained by previous disasters. Los Angeles, long San Francisco's West Coast competitor but equally at the mercy of the San Andreas Fault, quickly shipped doctors, sonic equipment and fire investigators to the Bay Area. The mayor of a sister city in disaster, Charleston's Joseph P. Riley Jr., sent a plane load of drinking water, a symbolic return of the support his city got after Hugo. "I know we still have and will have great needs here and charity certainly begins at home," Riley said. "However, it would be wrong for this community ... not to reach in (our pockets) and contribute to those who are hurt and suffering right now." San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos has estimated damage $2 billion in his city alone. The Salvation Army had the food cooking almost before the earth quit shaking in Northern California, while the Red Cross opened the doors and unfolded cots in 25 shelters. "We don't wait for anybody," said Col. Leon Ferraez, communications director of the Salvation Army. "We're there the minute the news is on." According to Ferraez, the organization dispatched 12 mobile canteens to the hardest-hit earthquake areas within minutes. All Salvation Army centers in the Bay Area, including 34 community service centers and scores of other units, have been turned over to the relief effort. Los Angeles donated sonic equipment to help detect sounds of people trapped in rubble. And officials in Los Alamos, N.M., dispatched a device used to locate survivors of last year's Armenian quake. Israel offered the services of a special army rescue squad that also helped dig out victims in Armenia. A French disaster relief agency offered to send special teams of searchers. A team of British engineers were to fly to San Francisco today to help assess structural damage from the quake. The Bay Area has a large Asian population, and callers from Japan and the Philippines and other countries jammed phone lines trying to reach relatives. The Osaka, Japan, city government announced it was sending $10,000 to San Francisco, a sister city since 1957. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley sent police and fire investigators to assess damage from the quake, and convened his own emergency council in a special meeting to discuss other possible measures. "I am joining millions of Californians as we intensely watch the damage of the large San Francisco earthquake," said Bradley. "We all know the horrors of an earthquake and we express our deep-felt sympathy for the people of the San Francisco Bay area." An Anheuser-Busch Inc. brewery in Fairfield, 35 miles northeast of San Francisco, interrupted normal operations to fill cans with drinking water instead of beer for free shipment to relief agencies, the company said. Coast Guard offices across the West Coast provided San Francisco with as many boats and helicopters as could be spared, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Elizabeth Neely. The Red Cross sent 290 units of blood from Los Angeles; the San Diego Blood Bank rushed 50 units to San Francisco within an hour of the quake; more than 400 units were sent from Portland, Ore. "Giving makes them feel good," said Trudy Sullivan, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Portland. Even the Internal Revenue Service got into the act, announcing it would waive penalties for taxpayers unable to file returns or make scheduled payments because of the earthquake. President Bush directed $273 million in immediate aid for quake victims and said he would visit the area Friday or Saturday. But some officials said the disaster could strain the coffers of private agencies and those of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was criticized for its response to the storm-lashed Carolinas. The Red Cross began its fiscal year July 1 with $18.5 million in its disaster budget, and had spent 40 percent by September. Then Hugo came along, triggering an effort the agency estimates will cost $42 million _ the most ever. "When a major earthquake and a major hurricane hit back-to-back, you can bet it will stretch Red Cross disaster resources and manpower," said Bob Vessey, director of disaster services in Washington, D.C. 
 Japanese writer Kazuo Ishiguro won the 1989 Booker Prize, Britain's top literary award, for his novel "The Remains of the Day," judges announced Thursday. The prize is worth $32,000. Judges praised the novel, a love story about a butler's English vacation, as "a cunningly structured and beautifully paced performance." Other finalists this year were Canadian Margaret Atwood for "Cat's Eye," Irish author John Banville for "Book of Evidence," Scotland's James Kelman for "A Disaffection" and English writers Sybille Bedford for "Jigsaw" and Rose Tremain for "Restoration." After receiving the prize, Ishiguro paid tribute to Salman Rushdie, the 1988 runner-up for the award, who went into hiding in February when he was threatened with death by Moslems who said his novel "The Satanic Verses" blasphemed their faith. "Now that circumstances have changed, when perhaps it is inconvenient for many people to support his writing, I just felt it was fitting that we should not turn our backs on him," Ishiguro said. Rushdie lives in England. Ishiguro, 39, arrived in England at age 6 and now lives in south London. He writes in English. In announcing the winner, the judges said: "`The Remains of the Day' renders with humor and pathos a memorable character and explores the large, vexed themes of class, tradition and duty. It was narrowly preferred but universally admired." Ishiguro was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 1986 for his novel "An Artist of the Floating World." The Booker Prize is sponsored by Booker, an international food and agriculture business. 
 Thousands of miners in the northern Vorkuta region are expanding their strike and some are blocking coal shipments, the Soviet news media reported Friday. The miners are demanding the government fulfill promises of improved living and job conditions. Soviet officials have said the strikes could force fuel rationing during the Soviet Union's severe winter. Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov introduced a bill in parliament that would increase pension benefits by about 40 percent and upgrade benefits for coal miners, the official Tass news agency reported. The Komsomolskaya Pravda youth newspaper, in an article giving a sympathetic view of the workers condition's in the Arctic Cirle coal-mining districts, said many miners do not see daylight for months because of their underground work and the sun dips below the horizon in the winter. A regional court in Vorkuta ruled that the latest round of strikes is illegal but did not impose any penalties. The miners's unions said the decision will be appealed. Coal miners in the northern region and the Ukraine struck for two weeks this summer but returned to work in July after parliament passed a resolution promising reforms, including improved social and economic conditions. The miners say the government has renedged on its promises. The news media gave these accounts of the latest strikes: Workers at the Vorgashor mine in the Arctic Circle, the largest mine in the Vorkuta region, continued their strike for an eighth day, according to Tass. Komsomolskaya Pravda said night-shift workers walked out at three mines in Vorkuta and at another one the miners were still working but were preventing the coal from being shipped outside the region. In the Ukraine's Donetsk Coal Basin, the nation's major coal-producing area, miner representatives were discussing another strike. Tens of thousands of miners walked off the job for two hours Wednesday. Tass said that in Donetsk the miners gathered in front of the House of Unions to demand that the government set a deadline for implementing reforms. 
 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has weakened her position and kicked off the race to succeed her by saying she plans to step down after winning another term, opposition leaders and political observers said. A pro-Thatcher newspaper today said she had merely stated the obvious and that her statements were no "cause for astonishment." Mrs. Thatcher told The Sunday Correspondent in an interview published Sunday that she hoped to lead her Conservative Party to a fourth successive election but said it was unlikely she would try for a fifth. "I think people would think it was time for someone else to carry the torch," she told the newspaper. The Sunday Times of London said in a commentary: "Mrs. Thatcher has committed a colossal blunder." "She has given the riders for the Tory succession their starting orders years in advance of the actual race," the newspaper said. The next election must be held by the summer of 1992, but it is expected Mrs. Thatcher will call it in 1991. Mrs. Thatcher, who turned 64 last month, has never previously made it clear in public when she plans to retire as party leader. She was elected in 1979, the first female prime minister in Europe, and won re-election in 1983 and in 1987, when she said she planned to "go on and on." Earlier this year, Mrs. Thatcher overtook Liberal Lord Asquith's 1908-1916 tenure as prime minister to become Britain's longest continuously serving prime minister of the 20th century. Mrs. Thatcher's popularity is the lowest of any prime minister since opinion polls began in Britain 50 years ago, and senior colleagues have publicly admonished her to change her leadership style following the surprise resignation of her treasury chief, Nigel Lawson. Lord Callaghan, former Labor prime minister whom Mrs. Thatcher defeated in 1979, said her comments had "considerably weakened her position." If her party wins the next election, it is expected Mrs. Thatcher would step down before her term ends to allow her successor to choose a time to call a new election. "My guess is that the Tory party will want someone as leader who could take them through the next Parliament," Callaghan said. If Mrs. Thatcher resigns while in office, her successor elected by the party automatically becomes prime minister with approval of Queen Elizabeth II, but convention dictates that he or she seek a mandate in a general election as soon as possible. The Sunday Times speculated she would step down by 1994. Mrs. Thatcher would celebrate her 69th birthday that year and her husband, Denis, will be 79 and "his age may have been a factor in her decision," the newspaper said. The newspaper predicted the opposition Labor Party will try to promote leader Neil Kinnock as "the occupant-in-waiting of 10 Downing St., who is ready, able and willing to complete a full term." Kinnock called Mrs. Thatcher's comments "the interview of someone preparing herself for quitting. Mentally, Margaret Thatcher is preparing herself for packing her bags." In an editorial today, the pro-Thatcher Daily Telegraph said Mrs. Thatcher was merely stating the obvious by indicating she would not seek a fifth term. "Even were she not to fight a fifth election, Mrs. Thatcher could yet enjoy seven more years in charge," it said. "By then she would be in her 70s, and her devoted husband a decade older ... Nonetheless, what other politician would be expected to entertain an inquiry about his or her intentions in seven years time? And can it really be a cause for astonishment that Mrs. Thatcher is unwilling to commit herself to political activity in her mid-70s and beyond?" 
 The Oscar statuette, one of the most recognizable images in the entertainment world, has no copyright protection, a federal judge has ruled. The small Academy Award statue is part of the public domain, U.S. District Court Judge Laughlin Waters said in a ruling released Thursday. The decision was a setback for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which had sued a Chicago-based manufacturer of an employee-incentive trophy similar to the Oscar. Academy President Karl Malden said the ruling "comes as a shock to me." The academy said it would appeal. The academy claimed that the Star Award, the trophy look-alike made by Creative House Promotions, violated copyright laws, diluted the academy's trademark and represented unfair competition. The Star Award depicted a naked, muscular male much like the Oscar, just two inches shorter and holding a star instead of a sword. It had a gold finish similar to the Oscar, and stood on a circular gold cap mounted on a cylindrical base. Although Waters acknowledged that the Creative House trophy is "very similar" to the Oscar, he rejected all of the academy's legal claims, saying that the statuette became part of the public domain prior to Jan. 1, 1978, the effective date of the Copyright Act of 1976. The film industry's top award was distributed from the first ceremony in 1929 until about 1941 without the "c" mark indicating a copyright. The judge ruled, too, that the Oscar not only was an honorary award but also was used to promote the film industry, and therefore did not have a "limited purpose," as required by the copyright act. The academy noted that the ruling applied only to the statuette and that the academy's trademark and service marks for the Oscar and the Academy Award names and symbols are unaffected. "We are surprised that the court would base its decision on events which occurred half a century ago, overlooking the meticulous fashion in which the Academy has protected the integrity of its institutional symbol for decades," Malden said in a statement. 
 The concept of a reunified Germany enjoys support from the United States and other countries but some analysts believe the consequences of a political and economic German superstate could have an unsettling effect throughout Europe. The lifting of travel restrictions by East Germany on Thursday has breathed new life into the idea of a single German state, drawing expressions of support from the Bush administration and others. But Soviet affairs expert William Hyland says that despite these assertions, a reunified Germany is "really terrifying to most of the countries involved, to the West Germans, to the United States, Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia. "No one really wants German unity except the East German people, and they turn out to be the decisive factor," says Hyland, a one-time top aide to former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. It was just 2{ months ago when ceremonies were held commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of World War II, a time when a unified Germany initiated what was to become the slaughter of more than 50 million people. While a recurrence of that nightmare seems remote at best under any scenario, an undivided Germany could become the unchallenged economic and political force on the continent. The official U.S. policy on the reunification question was outlined last Thursday by State Department deputy spokesman Richard Boucher. "Reunification has been supported by NATO and by the United States for 40 years, and our strongly held view is that reunification or reconciliation between the peoples of Germany must take place in peace and freedom," he said. As former National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski sees it, the reunification issue will become "very, very active" if a freely elected government takes power in East Germany. That possibility has been mentioned by East German leaders as part of the ongoing reform process. Brzezinski asks: "How do we arrange for the unification of Germany, so that it doesn't become destabilizing, so it isn't a threat to Germany's neighbors _ France, Poland, Czechoslovakia? "These are the issues we really have to very hard think about. We have to think of a new structure between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. That is our new agenda." Theodore Sorenson, a top aide to President John F. Kennedy when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, says he hopes a reunited Germany will be forged as part of a reunited Europe. Reunification, Sorenson says, "will pose problems, because we couldn't afford to have a reunited Germany outside the Western Alliance. The Soviet Union couldn't afford to have a reunited Germany as part of the Western Alliance. "That's why I hope it will be a reunited Europe within which the reunited Germany can take place," Sorenson says. Bernard Rogers, a former commander of allied forces in Europe, does not think reunification is inevitable. Some form of federation, he believes, is more likely. Rogers notes that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has said the nations of eastern Europe can do what they want so long as they stay in the Warsaw Pact. "If East Germany stays in the Warsaw Pact, NATO, with the best of its ability, would try to prevent full reunification; maybe a confederation between the two Germanys, but not a full reunification," Rogers says. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, points out that German reunification is a sensitive question for the Soviets. "Soviet policy is based upon preventing a reunified, economically strong and certainly militarily strong Germany," Mitchell says. "There must be some serious apprehension in the Soviet Union today, because the events of the last couple of days certainly has made reunification more likely." The Bush administration says it does not foresee the dismantling of NATO under any circumstances but, according to Hyland, the reunification of Germany could mean the demise of the alliance. "It may also mean the end of Western European unity, because both have been based on a divided Germany and a divided Europe," Hyland says. "If that comes to an end and 80 million Germans are united in a confederation or a single state, it changes the entire map of Europe. "It changes all of the geopolitics and, in effect, ends the period we've been in since ... the beginning of the war." 
 Thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the middle Mississippi Valley and the Southeast on Wednesday with lethal tornadoes, wind up to 100 mph and hail up to the size of baseballs. At least four tornadoes pounded the Huntsville, Ala., area. One twister smashed into a residential district, a shopping area and a school, killing at least two people and causing dozens of injuries, police said. Southern Illinois was also hard hit by the storms, with one woman killed by a falling tree, about 20 people injured and power lines downed. Elsewhere, snow fell from the northern Rockies to the upper Great Lakes, while unseasonably mild weather continued in the East. People in Alorton, Ill., a village of 2,700 about five miles southeast of East St. Louis, were injured when trees fell on their houses or mobile homes, said Bill Gamblin of the St. Clair County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. At Parks College in Cahokia, Ill., eight miles south of East St. Louis, aircraft hangers were twisted and flattened and small aircraft tossed around the airport by high winds, the National Weather Service said. Storms in the area generated wind estimated at 80 to 100 mph, the weather service said. The thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a strong cold front and swept eastward from Missouri and Arkansas. Thunderstorms crossing northeastern Arkansas whipped up high wind which blew away metal roofing being installed on a high school gymnasium at Lepanto and dumped hail up to 2 inches in diameter at Leachville. Heavy thunderstorms, possibly a tornado, struck the north Georgia town of Palmetto late Wednesday, causing extensive damage, authorities said. In central and southwest Ohio, thunderstorms packing winds up to 66 mph destroyed barns and a trailer home and tore the roofs off several buildings. Some injuries but no fatalities were reported. An afternoon thunderstorm in east-central Alabama formed a tornado which damaged at least one home, and the Clay County Sheriff's office said an unknown number of people were injured in one house. Thunderstorms sweeping across Tennessee spun off a tornado in southeastern Madison Country, and dropped hail as big as baseballs north of Jackson, the weather service said. Hail stones as big as tennis balls fell near Huntingburg, Ind., the weather service said. The heaviest rainfall during the six hours up to 1 p.m. EST was 1.22 inches at Peru, Ind. Wind up to 65 mph damaged roofs, power lines and trees in parts of Kentucky and Louisiana, the weather service said. Severe thunderstorms also developed over Alabama and South Carolina during the afternoon, and the weather service reported a tornado north of Greenwood, S.C. Other showers and thunderstorms, with locally heavy rain, were widely scattered along the northern Atlantic Coast. Light snow associated with an arctic cold front extended from eastern Wyoming and northeastern Colorado into western Minnesota. Snow also fell across parts of northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. As much as 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible by Thursday morning along the Lake Superior shore of Wisconsin. Strong northwesterly wind ushering the cold air into the north-central states gusted above 40 mph during the afternoon, creating wind chill readings colder than 25 degrees below zero. Snow, high wind and rapidly falling temperatures associated with the cold front briefly produced near-blizzard conditions in Nebraska late Wednesday morning. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the East with afternoon readings in the 60s in New England, and in the 80s over Florida, southern Texas and southern Louisiana. Wednesday morning's low for the Lower 48 states was 9 degrees above zero at Ely, Nev. 
 A tornado slammed into a shopping district, a residential area and a school Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, injuring more than 300 and trapping people in cars and homes, authorities said. "It's total destruction where the tornado hit. Cars are piled on top of each other under piles of rubble where buildings used to be," said Danny Cooper, state emergency management director in Montgomery. Emergency officials in Huntsville reported 15 confirmed deaths, said Henry Jurnigan, a duty officer with the state Emergency Management Agency in Montgomery. Mayor Steve Hettinger said 305 people were injured and about 500 displaced by the tornado that struck while streets of this northeastern Alabama city filled with rush-hour traffic. Rescue teams with cranes and floodlights searched the rubble through the night for injured or dead. "Several people are still trapped in vehicles and apartment complexes and shopping areas," said police spokesman Ben Jennings after the twister touched down between 4 and 4:30 p.m. in the city's south section. "It may be tomorrow before we have a final count," Gov. Guy Hunt said at the state's disaster center in Montgomery. The governor dispatched 50 National Guardsmen, along with search and rescue equipment. Rescuers picked through piles of rubble 10 to 14 feet deep, and Cooper said police were unable to determine the extent of the damaged area. Rescuers also were hampered by darkness and plunging temperatures. "We're even having a few snowflakes," said Cooper. High temperatures in Huntsville were expected to be in the 30s Thursday, he said. Witnesses said the downtown Jones Valley Elementary School, the Waterford Square and adjacent Queensbury apartment complexes were reduced to rubble by the tornado. "The only thing left standing was a door frame," news photographer Mike Mercier said of the school, which was empty of staff and pupils when the tornado hit. Police reported one person killed in a car outside the school. Authorities said at least five were killed at Waterford Square apartments, three at a business school, Southern Junior College, which is located in a converted movie theater, and others in scattered areas. "Rescuers are digging in the rubble," state trooper W.L. Kelly said. He said two people were killed when the twister hit house trailers in rural areas east of Huntsville. The fifth death was reported near the shopping district. The city is home to Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's Redstone Arsenal, but no serious damage was reported from the space agency or weapons testing center. "We've called in troopers from around the state to help," Kelly said. Telephone communication and electricity were disrupted by the tornadoes and WAAY-TV, the only station still broadcasting, reported widespread damage. "It came in with a huge roar, an enormous amount of water, and it just started shaking and tearing at everything it could get hold of," said real estate broker Ike Carroll, who was in his car when the twister struck. "It started picking cars up and pushing them around, ... some of them upside down, some of them just strewn around," he said. Heavy overhead power lines "started snapping just like a circus performer would snap his whip," Carroll said. "All of these heavy arcing, flashing lines that were just popping and snapping over the top of us ... it was as if you were looking into an arc-welder, they were so bright," he said. WAAY reported at least one person died when the roof of a business collapsed from winds that overturned cars in the area. A nearby shopping center also was damaged. Humana Hospital administrator David Miller said doctors were having difficulty reaching the hospital because of blocked roads. The National Weather Service earlier said a tornado hit the east Alabama hamlet of Mellow Valley, severely damaging at least one home and causing some injuries. Weather officials said people were trapped inside a collapsed house. A spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriff's Department said people were injured at one house in a rural area 30 miles east of Sylacauga. Another tornado touched down about 1:30 p.m. as severe weather swept across much of Alabama and the National Weather Service placed most of the state under a tornado watch. A third tornado was reported shortly before 3:30 p.m. crossing the Coosa River near Titus in east Alabama, the Weather Service said. In Georgia, five people were injured, four critically, and at least 200 people evacuated after a tornado struck two mobile home parks and an interstate highway near Palmetto, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta, authorities said. Authorities in southwestern North Carolina said a pair of storm-spawned tornadoes struck around 10:45 p.m., destroying a vacant house in Henderson County. The National Weather Service also reported tornadoes inflicting minor property damage in Kentucky and Mississippi. 
 Rescuers crawled through collapsed homes and shops today looking for more victims of a tornado that carved a 3-mile stretch of destruction, killing 17 people, injuring 463 and leaving 1,000 homeless. "It's like taking six to 10 city blocks and putting them in a blender and putting it on liquefy," said rescue worker Bob Caraway, whose specialty is cave rescues. He was among those called out to help dig through rubble for survivors or the bodies of the dead. The tornado was one of a series that touched down Wednesday in an arc spanning at least seven states from the Deep South to the Midwest. The other tornadoes caused at least 19 injuries and far-flung property damage. In Huntsville, teams with cranes and floodlights searched for the injured or dead, hampered by wind-whipped rain and temperatures that plummeted overnight from 73 degrees into the 30s. Gov. Guy Hunt sent 50 National Guardsmen to help and said he would view damage Friday. His spokesman, Terry Abbott, said aerial surveys indicate the twister hopped along a 25-mile path, much of it straight through Huntsville. By this afternoon, severe thunderstorms were crossing the Northeast. The National Weather Service put out a tornado watch for parts of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, all of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. In Pennsylvania, the weather service said it received unconfirmed reports of a tornado that turned over a car and knocked down trees and power lines near Gettysburg. Elsewhere: _In Georgia, 19 people were injured, four critically, and at least 200 people were evacuated after a tornado strus.C., and a tornado toppled trees, downed power lines and damaged 20 houses near Greenwood, S.C. No injuries were reported in either state. _Tornadoes caused minor property damage in Mississippi, Kentucky and Indiana. _In West Virginia, high winds believed to be tornadoes swept Jefferson County early today, overturning trailers, blowing roofs off homes and downing power lines, authorities said. Four people were injured, two seriously. _Heavy thunderstorms destroyed at least a dozen homes in Alorton, Ill., killing one person and injuring 20 others, five seriously, authorities said. The tornado struck Huntsville with virtually no warning Wednesday afternoon as the city's streets grew busy with the approach of rush hour. In a matter of seconds, cars were hurled through the air and crushed, and apartments and stores looked as if they had been bombed. "It was fast," said Lucy Lee Rusk, whose apartment was battered by debris. "It was like one big pop and that's when everything went." The National Weather Service had issued a tornado watch earlier in the day, but did not issue a more urgent tornado warning until 4:39 p.m. CST, when the tornado was spotted at the municipal golf course. By then, it was already tearing up the city. A watch means a tornado is considered possible, while a warning means a tornado is believed to exist. Huntsville Police Maj. Robert Moder said this morning that 463 people were injured by the twister, which plowed through a school and rural areas as well as a shopping mall and adjacent apartments. Police Chief Richard Ottman initially put the number of dead at 19, but his clerk, Kitty Whitworth, later said the death toll was lowered to 17 after police confirmed the count of bodies. She said police had no firm reports of people missing. No children in the school were killed, but about 30 youngsters were in a kindergarten class at the building, and five were reported injured. Most of the dead were in apartments, stores or cars. Mayor Steve Hettinger estimated the number of homeless at 1,000 and said officials were preparing a request for federal disaster assistance. A worker at a building owned by the Madison County Jaycees said 42 people were staying there early today, and described the mood of the survivors as "shock, mostly, and disbelief." "They're thankful to be alive and they're thankful their families are alive," he said, adding that the shelter had received calls from around the country from worried relatives. The tornado was Alabama's deadliest since a 1975 twister killed 22 people in Birmingham, said Danny Cooper, state emergency management director in Montgomery. Along a highway near a destroyed apartment complex, cars were flipped and smashed into telephone poles and crushed by trees. The roadway was strewn with used bandages and medical gloves left by emergency workers treating the injured. Humana Hospital administrator David Miller said doctors had difficulty reaching the hospital because of blocked roads. Those in the tornado's path spoke with awe of its fury. "It came in with a huge roar, an enormous amount of water, and it just started shaking and tearing at everything it could get hold of," said real estate broker Ike Carroll, who was in his car. Heavy overhead power lines "started snapping just like a circus performer would snap his whip," Carroll said. "All of these heavy arcing, flashing lines that were just popping and snapping over the top of us. ... It was as if you were looking into an arc-welder, they were so bright." Kenneth Lenhard had undergone an operation at the Crestwood Hospital on Wednesday and returned to his room about an hour before a window in the next room blew out as the tornado passed. "There wasn't anything I could do, so I covered my head," Lenhard said. "I thought, `What the heck, I'm already half dead.' " The downtown Jones Valley Elementary School, the Waterford Square and adjacent Queensbury apartment complexes were reduced to rubble. Kindergarteners were the only pupils left at the school by the time the twister hit. The city is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's Redstone Arsenal, but no serious damage was reported from the space agency or weapons testing center. At least two other tornadoes were reported in Alabama, injuring at least three people in addition to the Huntsville total. Near Palmetto, Ga., resident Jeff Bryant said his home at the Sweetbriar Mobile Home Park near Interstate 85 began to vibrate when the twister approached. "Then we heard a large, loud, swirling and humming noise," he recalled. "It didn't sound like a train like everybody says it does. I lived near a train track. It did not sound like a train. It sounded more like a jet aircraft at very close range." Thomas Farr was driving on Interstate 85 when the tornado hit. "It was picking up cars and tossing them like toys off the interstate," he said. "I saw one 18-wheeler flip over. The car in front of us was flipped about 100 yards, and the guy was thrown out of his passenger window and landed 50 feet from his car. 
 Employees at a jewelry store huddled in the vault while the shop came down around them. A man in an apartment building stayed in his bathtub while the bathroom walls crumbled and fell. Those were among the stories people in this northern Alabama city swapped on Thursday as they assessed the damage from a tornado that whipped through the heart of the city in a flash, leaving at least 17 people dead and hundreds homeless. "Everybody was screaming and windows started breaking and the roof started to fall," recalled Vincent Davis, a fourth-grader at Jones Valley Elementary School. "The whole top story flew off. Everybody wanted their mom." Vincent was staying late at school Wednesday when the twister hit shortly after 4:30 p.m. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries; five of about 30 children in a kindergarten class also were reported hurt. Lynn Culpepper was in his bathtub at the Waterford Square apartments, where at least a dozen buildings were destroyed. "The next thing I knew, glass was breaking and I was rolling on the ground," he recalled. "It was just black, and then there was this tumbling feeling with debris flying around everywhere. When I opened my eyes and looked around, there was just a pile of rubble where the apartments used to be." Culpepper's head and arms were cut in the collapse. Manager Bob Husman of a Golbro jewelry store ordered employees into the vault shortly before the roof and walls crashed down on him, 20 feet from the vault. "In the jewelry business, the vault is the safest place," he said. "I had structural steel on me but managed to crawl out. It was the worst kind of nightmare." The employees in the vault were dug out an hour after the collapse, shaken but not hurt. Rick Snider was in the bakery aisle of a supermarket. "Part of the roof was coming off," he said. "Some ladies were crying, but it was quite calm. A checkout lady was hit with a cash register. People were shouting, `Can I help?' and they were leading people to the light. There was no screaming or hysterical stuff. I came out and I couldn't believe the damage." For Ed Rolan, a medic, the devastation brought back memories of Vietnam. Rolan, who was driving home when the tornado hit, went right to work helping the stricken motorists around him. "One lady was thrown from her car and I thought she was dead," he said. "I came back by her later and saw she had changed positions. It took 30 minutes to get a stretcher to her." The enormity of the death and destruction "sank in very quickly," Rolan said. "This is the closest to death I have been since Vietnam." 
 A powerful storm system brought strong winds and heavy thunderstorms to the Northeast on Thursday, causing flooding and widespread property damage. Seven children died when a wall collapsed in a school cafeteria near Newburgh, N.Y. Tornadoes were reported in New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and New York, although the National Weather Service was unable to confirm them. The same storm system caused tornadoes in seven states in the South and Midwest on Wednesday, and was blamed for 17 deaths in Huntsville, Ala. The storm was particularly violent because it occurred along a line of extreme variations in temperature. High temperature records fell in advance of the storm and sharply colder weather lurked behind it. Record highs were recorded in Binghamton, N.Y., where it was 61 degrees, Bridgeport, Conn., (66), and Burlington, Vt., (69). A record was also set in Miami, where it was 89. Thunderstorms continued across the Ohio Valley overnight and during the morning. Storms that might have been tornadoes damaged a residence and a store near Richmond, Va., and uprooted about 600 feet of trees near Wilmington, Del. Other storms that might have been tornados were reported near Peekskill, N.Y., and Piscataway, N.J., during the afternoon. Strong thunderstorms caused a concrete-and-glass wall to blow in on a cafeteria during lunchtime at the East Coldenham Elementary School near Newburgh. Seven children were killed and 18 injured. There were reports of damage from strong thunderstorms and gusty winds in eastern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and eastern New York state. Winds gusted to 65 mph in Baltimore, 76 mph in Lancaster, Pa., and 100 mph at Great Valley, Pa.. A tornado watch was posted for northeast New York state, much of Vermont and much of New Hampshire. Thunderstorms also produced locally heavy rain and flooding. A flood warning was posted over portions of upstate New York. Nearly two inches of rain fell east of Utica, N.Y., at the Little Falls Reservoir, which overflowed and caused flooding. Water was eroding the Lyons Pond Dam near Dolgeville, N.Y., causing flooding there. Snow was falling west of the cold front. A winter storm warning was posted for northwest Wisconsin, in the snowbelt near Lake Superior. Winter storm warnings were posted for much of lower Michigan, northwestern upper Michigan and north central Indiana. Winds gusted to 63 mph at Whitefish Point, Mi., and near blizzard conditions extended over eastern upper Michigan. Overnight snowfall across upper Michigan included 12 inches at Van Riper State Park and 10 inches near Neguanee. Heavier snowfall during the 6 hours ending at 1 p.m. EST included 4 inches at Houghton Lake, Mich., 3 inches at Marquette, Pellston, Saginaw and Sault Ste. Marie, all in Michigan, and 2 inches at South Bend, Ind. Heavy snow warnings were posted for the northwest and northern mountain portions of Pennsylvania. A snow squall warning was posted for northeast Ohio. Cold weather was expected to invade the Southeast, with warnings of freezing overnight temperatures posted for Friday morning in Georgia, Alabama, northwest Florida, most of Mississippi and all but extreme southeast Louisiana. The low temperature for the nation Thursday morning was 8 degrees below zero at Bismarck, N.D. Temperatures around the nation at 3 p.m. EST ranged from 7 degrees at Fergus Falls, Minn., to 88 degrees at Miami, Fla. 
 Here is a state-by-state look at the tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that have killed at least 27 people, injured more than 500 and left hundreds homeless since Wednesday: _Alabama: Seventeen people were killed in Huntsville on Wednesday when a tornado touched down just before rush hour, causing major damage. There were 463 injuries and about 1,000 people left homeless, authorities said. Three people were injured in an earlier tornado in Clay County in eastern Alabama. _District of Columbia: Heavy thunderstorms packing 50-60 mph winds swept through the Washington area during the Thursday morning rush hour, flooding some streets. About 10,000 customers lost power, mostly in the Maryland suburbs. No injuries were reported. _Georgia: 19 people were injured, four critically, and at least 200 people were evacuated Wednesday after a tornado struck two mobile home parks and an interstate highway near Palmetto, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta. _Illinois: Strong winds Wednesday morning destroyed about 15 homes and killed one woman in St. Clair County in southwestern Illinois. Damage was estimated at $3 million to $5 million. _Indiana: A tornado was spotted Wednesday afternoon around Richmond, close to the Ohio border. It ripped the top off a silo and tipped a semi-trailer into a ditch. The driver was slightly injured. _Kentucky: The storm Wednesday left at least 28 people injured; damage was estimated at $2.5 million or more. A storm believed to have been a tornado cut a mile-long swath of destruction through the town of Flaherty in Meade County. Damage was also reported in Bullitt, LaRue, Hardin and Pendleton counties. _Maryland, Delaware: Heavy winds on Thursday leveled a church building in Kent County, Md., lifted roofs from buildings in Baltimore and cut power to tens of thousands of utility customers, authorities said. Reports of tornado damage came from Kent County, Md., and Hockessin, Del. National Weather Service officials were unable to immediately confirm the reports. No injuries were reported. _Mississippi: Scattered damage and power outages were reported Wednesday after radar showed tornadoes in Neshoba and Kemper counties in the east-central portion of the state. No injuries were reported. _New Jersey: High winds and tornadoes were blamed for one death, at least four injuries and widespread damage and power outages Thursday. A tornado touched down in Piscataway shortly after noon, collapsing on house and damaging 10 to 12 others. One person suffered a minor injury. A bridge connecting Elizabeth with New York City was closed after two tractor trailers overturned in heavy winds; one truck driver died and a passenger was injured. Two minor injuries were reported in Bergen County. _New York: A severe thunderstorm Thursday sent a tree crashing through an elementary school roof in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, killing at least seven children and injuring 18, authorities said. In New York City, a woman was killed by a 12-foot steel beam that apparently had blown off her apartment's water tower. Tornadoes were reported in Peekskill, just north of the city. _North Carolina: A pair of tornadoes were reported Wednesday in Henderson County, where a vacant house was destroyed. No injuries were reported. _Ohio: High winds described by local authorities as a tornado hopscotched across north-central Ohio on Wednesday, ripping roofs off barns and houses, destroying farm sheds and damaging trailer homes. One man was hospitalized from a lightning strike and a woman was slightly injured by flying debris. _Pennsylvania: High winds and funnel clouds ripped off roofs and downed trees in eastern Pennslyvania on Thursday, shattering windows in Philadelphia skyscrapers. No serious injuries were reported, but at least 75,000 customers in southeastern Pennsylvania lost power. _South Carolina: A tornado Wednesday downed power lines and damaged 20 houses near Greenwood. No injuries were reported. _West Virginia: High winds knocked over trees, ripped roofs off houses and toppled a trailer early Thursday in Jefferson County, just west of Frederick, Md., injuring four members of one family, two seriously. The National Weather Service said the storm probably was a tornado. 
 A violent storm that spun tornadoes across the South and Midwest blew north Thursday, knocking a cafeteria wall down on top of lunching schoolchildren in upstate New York. The two-day toll was at least 27 dead and hundreds injured. The cafeteria cave-in claimed the lives of seven children near Newburgh, N.Y., and deaths also were reported in New York City, New Jersey and Illinois. Seventeen people died Wednesday in Huntsville, Ala., when a tornado packing 250 mph winds struck virtually without warning, laying waste to a wide swath of the city. The storm churned around a collision of record warm air and extremely cold air. The result was tornadoes and unusually severe thunderstorms. By far the worst damage was in Huntsville, where an estimated 1,000 people were left homeless and National Guardsmen stood watch against looting Thursday. No bodies were believed left in the rubble, but portions of the city resembled a bombing target. A shopping center and clusters of apartment buildings were leveled. Cars were piled atop each other. Utility poles had been snapped like twigs. The National Weather Service said the tornado path had covered between eight and 10 miles and that its wind speeds were as high as 250 mph. "It's like taking six to 10 city blocks and putting them in a blender and putting it on liquefy," said rescue worker Bob Caraway. As the storm moved north on Thursday, it knocked over trees and ripped the the roofs off houses in West Virginia, injuring four members of one family, two seriously. The storm also caused flooding in Washington, D.C., blew the windows out of skyscrapers in Philadelphia and destroyed a house in Piscataway, N.J. A truck driver died when his tractor-trailer overturned in high winds on a bridge connecting Elizabeth, N.J., and New York City. A New York City woman died after being hit by a steel beam blown off a water tower. In Wyckoff, N.J., high winds knocked a power line onto a gas line, sparking a fire that forced the evacuation of 20 homes, according to police. No houses were burned. The cafeteria collapse occurred at the East Coldenham Elementary School in Newburgh at about 12:30 p.m., when from 113 to 125 students in first, second and third grades were eating lunch, said Newburgh police Chief John Kulisek. State Police and survivors said they believed the school was hit by a tornado, but the National Weather Service said it could not confirm that until investigators went to the scene. The center section of a cinder-block and glass wall fell in on the cafeteria, showering the pupils with glass and concrete. "You are talking about huge concrete blocks that fell on top of the kids," state police Lt. Robert Hughes said. Seven children ages 7 and 8 were killed and 18 others were injured, four critically, officials said. In eastern Connecticut, more than 75,000 Northeast Utilities customers lost power in the afternoon, and 18,000 remained without power at 9 p.m., spokeman Jeffery Kotkin said. Tornadoes were reported Wednesday in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. A severe thunderstorm in Illinois claimed one life and caused several million dollars in damage. Altogether, the storms were blamed for at least 27 deaths and more than 500 injuries over the two days. In Alabama, Gov. Guy Hunt said he would ask President Bush to declare Huntsville a disaster area to open the door to millions of dollars in federal relief. Mayor Steve Hettinger said no firm damage estimates were expected until Friday, but he put the number of homeless at 1,000. Hunt assigned nearly 200 Guardsmen to assist in the cleanup and help law officers guard against looting. Police spokeswoman Susan Williamson said there had been minor looting the night of the storm but no arrests. The temperature, which had risen to 73 before the storm Wednesday, plunged into the 30s early Thursday while rescuers worked through the night under the glare of floodlights. The lights, powered by generators, produced an eerie glow in a area that was otherwise largely without power. Tall cranes lifted the heavy rubble, while workers with flashlights picked through the smaller pieces. As daybreak came, people began returning to the scene, some to look for valuables in ravaged cars or businesses, others simply out of curiosity. Many carried cameras or videocassette recorders. Police Maj. Robert Moder said there was no indication that anyone was left in the rubble. "We don't have any reports of people missing," he said Thursday morning. Moder said 463 people were injured and more than 150 of those required at least overnight hospital treatment. Authorities had said 19 people were killed but later lowered the death toll by two. All but one of the victims, who ranged in age from 7 to 67, were killed along Airport Boulevard, a busy thoroughfare that seemed to be a guide for the tornado on its deadly march. The other victim perished on the city's outskirts, authorities said. Most of the dead were in apartments and stores that were torn into twisted wreckage, or in cars blown off the pavement. The tornado seemed to catch everyone by surprise. "It was fast," said Lucy Lee Rusk, who moved to a Red Cross shelter after her apartment was battered by debris. "It was like one big pop and that's when everything went." The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 3:54 p.m., but the tornado struck with no real warning, said Brenda Page of the service's office. A tornado warning was broadcast at 4:39 p.m., two minutes after the twister was sighted on the ground at the old Huntsville airport. Ms. Page said radar showed a strong storm but not the conditions usually visible during tornadoes. Danny Cooper, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, said three people were seriously injured in an earlier tornado that hit a home in Clay County in eastern Alabama. He said a tornado in northwestern Alabama's Lauderdale County destroyed three homes. Alabama Power Co. reported Thursday that violent winds had battered the switchyard of the Farley Nuclear Power Plant near Dothan on Wednesday night, causing about three gallons of concentrated PCBs to spill. A spokesman said no one was injured, the nuclear plant was not affected and a cleanup of the cancer-causing chemicals was under way. 
 Federal aid was approved Friday for tornado-ravaged Huntsville, where 17 died and several hundred were injured or lost their homes, and Gov. Guy Hunt toured hospitals and visited with grieving families. "I've been around a lot of tornadoes, but I've not seen the type of damage on as broad a scale as I've seen this morning," Hunt said after a helicopter tour of the 10-mile-long path of destruction. State emergency management officials estimated the damage in excess of $100 million in the agency's letter to President Bush requesting a disaster declaration, said Terry Abbott, the governor's press secretary. "I've never seen as much rubble from a tornado before," said Danny Cooper, the state agency's director. He listed 119 houses destroyed, 125 with minor damage, and three churches, two schools, 35 businesses and 10 public buildings either destroyed or suffering heavy damage. Wind in the tornado was estimated at 250 mph when the twister hit Wednesday afternoon. More than 400 people were injured, with about 80 still under care in hospitals when Hunt visited patients' rooms Friday. City officials said about 1,000 were left homeless. Hunt asked that flags around the state be lowered to half-staff through Tuesday in memory of the victims, and Marilyn Quayle, wife of the vice president, planned to visit the battered city Saturday. President Bush issued a disaster declaration Friday morning to clear the way for tornado victims to receive federal relief. Cooper said about $1 million may be needed in the form of individual and family grants to provide clothing and temporary housing. The federal government pays 75 percent of the cost and the state 25 percent. Grant Peterson, associate director of the federal Emergency Management Agency, said Friday he hopes that offices can be opened Sunday to take applications for disaster relief. He said assistance checks may be in the mail within a week. FEMA's reaction time was criticized after South Carolina was struck by a hurricane. Police spokesman Ronnie Fudge said several truckloads of food had arrived but the city is running out of places to store the goods. He urged that people donate money to relief agencies rather than send food. Hunt visited privately Friday morning with families of some of the 17 killed in the tornado, The victims ranged in age from 7 to 67. Two of the dead, John and Wanda Lewis, were found holding each other beneath a table, crushed by a collapsed ceiling at Gates Cleaners, where Lewis was manager. Much of Westbury Mall was reduced to rubble by the tornado. "To look at that building, it's hard to understand why more people were not killed," Hunt said. Hunt also stopped at a school heavily damaged by the tornado. A hole in one outside wall exposed a caved-in classroom. Because the tornado struck at 4:30 p.m., most of the classrooms were empty and only six children were injured. School personnel and painters in the building were credited with helping protect about 30 youngsters in extended hours and kindergarten day care programs. Some children were moved into a closet for safety. "There were a lot of heroes, or more people would have been killed," said the governor. 
 The beer gridiron is going to be a busy and expensive place on television this January. The nation's two largest brewers, Anheuser Busch Cos. Inc. and Miller Brewing Co., are gearing up to sell their beer with by staging mock football games in television commercials in conjunction with Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans. Executives from both companies say they're attempting to take advantage of the weeks of hype surrounding the game. Both beermakers claim their packages are the largest Super Bowl promotions ever, with each planning to spend upwards of $7 million. Anheuser Busch is staging a "Bud Bowl II" ad campaign that culminates during the Jan. 28 Super Bowl, with a game featuring animated teams of Budweiser and Bud Light beer bottles rattling around on a pint-sized football field. The first such game was staged during the last Super Bowl. "We're starting a month earlier, we've added an extra promo spot and we're going to have a lot more display materials in the stores," said Tom Sharbaugh, group brand director for Budweiser. Miller, based in Milwaukee, won't say exactly how much it is spending on its 12-week, pre-Super Bowl campaign centered on a football game between a "Tastes Great" team and a "Less Filling" squad. Those teams will be made up of current and former National Football League players such as Bert Jones, L.C. Greenwood and Joe Klecko. "We're spending more than $7 million, I can tell you that," said Richard Burton, advertising manager for Lite beer. "We're talking about real-life talent." Miller's campaign culminates Jan. 14, two weeks before the Super Bowl, primarily because Anheuser Busch bought all the Super Bowl television spots allocated for beer advertising. Miller's television commercials already have started airing. Anheuser Busch will begin its ads this week with a spot featuring sports announcer Brent Musberger. Both companies also have fan participation promotions. Anheuser Busch expects to receive 400,000 to 500,000 scorecards from fans who are being asked to write down the score of the Bud Bowl after each quarter. Fans who send in their scorecards will receive a commemorative pin. Miller has a consumer sweepstakes offering expense-paid trips to the Super Bowl. 
 Marilyn Quayle, wife of Vice President Dan Quayle, praised the heroism of this tornado-ravaged northern Alabama city's residents during a visit Saturday. Mrs. Quayle personally thanked workers cleaning up the debris left by Wednesday's twister and visited some of the injured at Crestwood Hospital during her 2{-hour tour. The tornado left 18 people dead, hundreds injured and up to 1,000 homeless. The youngest victim, a 2{-year-old girl, died Friday after being taken off life-support systems. "The community is filled with heroes _ people who without ... regard to their own personal danger helped other citizens so that they could survive," said Mrs. Quayle, who was accompanied by Gov. Guy Hunt and U.S. Sens. Howell Heflin and Richard Shelby. Mrs. Quayle, who made similar visits to San Francisco after the Oct. 17 earthquake and Charleston, S.C., after Hurricane Hugo, also praised corporations that have made donations to help Huntsville recover. Federal and state officials have promised to do whatever is necessary to help Huntsville, even if disaster relief funds are squeezed by Hurricane Hugo and the quake. "We're here to get the job done," Grant Peterson, associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Friday. "Whatever's needed will be done." President Bush declared Huntsville a disaster area, but FEMA may have to do some financial juggling to deal with this year's rash of natural disasters. Parts of eight states have been declared eligible for federal relief. "Any one disaster like Hugo or the earthquake in California exceeds ... what we have in a normal year alone," Peterson said. Congress provided $1.1 billion in supplemental funds to FEMA after Hugo devastated the Caribbean and the East Coast in September, and $1.2 billion following the earthquake that ravaged parts of northern California on Oct. 17. So far, about $1.3 billion has been allocated to disaster victims. Peterson said he's not yet concerned about FEMA meeting its financial obligations. "I would say that to ask for any more money at this point would be premature," he said. Peterson and his aides urged patience during the arduous task of processing thousands of relief requests from the Huntsville area. "If everything works well, in seven to 10 days we should get the first checks out," Peterson said Friday. "I'll make sure that we expedite these requests to meet the people's needs." The state will have to ante up 25 percent of the cost of providing clothing and temporary housing for tornado victims, with the federal government pitching in the other 75 percent. Gov. Hunt said he expected the Alabama Legislature to come up with whatever money is needed. "The state doesn't budget for disasters," said Danny Cooper, Alabama's emergency management director. "We take care of them at the time." Hunt stressed that government agencies won't be able to shoulder the entire load. He requested donations to agencies such as the American Red Cross, which set up a shelter for the homeless as rescue workers dug through the rubble in those desperate hours after the tornado struck. The tornado hit Huntsville with devastating force _ winds were estimated at 250 mph _ and virtually no warning about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, leaving a 10-mile-long path of destruction. A shopping center and clusters of apartment buildings were leveled. Cars were piled atop each other like the remnants of a demolition derby. Cooper said 119 homes were destroyed and 125 had lesser damage. Three churches, two schools, 35 businesses and 10 public buildings were either destroyed or suffered heavy damage. Neighbors pitched in to help Debra McKay and her family pick through the rubble of their home. The only things standing were the walls around two bathrooms and an adjacent hallway _ the area where Ms. McKay and her three children rode out the storm. "I know the Lord spared us," she said. "I woke up a different person this morning." Officials said several truckloads of food have rolled into Huntsville but the city is running out of places to store the goods. "There's a sense of thankfulness," Hunt said. "It's heartwarming to see how people have come together." Huntsville is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army's Redstone Arsenal and a number of high-tech industries. Mayor Steve Hettinger said the city would be able to withstand the tornado's financial impact. "Huntsville has a strong economy, a diverse economy," he said. "That's not the source of our concern." 
 Chancellor Helmut Kohl assured visiting U.S. senators on the eve of a superpower summit that West Germany will not forsake NATO to reunite with East Germany, one of the senators said Friday. "He strongly affirmed under no circumstances would a reunified Germany be neutral," Sen. Richard G. Lugar, head of the American delegation, said of the Friday meeting with Kohl. Asked whether he thought the West Germans were committed to staying in the NATO military alliance of Western nations, the Indiana Republican said: "Without any reservations." There is growing discussion in West Germany about German reunification as a result of sweeping social and political reforms underway in East Germany. There has been speculation that West Germany might someday be tempted to agree to neutrality if the Kremlin stipulates it as the price for reunification. Kohl on Tuesday unveiled a 10-point proposal with German reunification as its ultimate goal. But the Soviets, who suffered millions of deaths fighting a unified Germany in World War II, have said the idea of German reunification is "dangerous and unrealistic." President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev are to begin a shipboard summit off Malta on Saturday. The dramatic events in East Germany and whirlwind reforms elsewhere in the East bloc are likely to be a main topic of their talks. Lugar came to Bonn with eight other members of the U.S. Senate's arms control observer group. He said the purpose of the trip was to "visit with the Germans on their judgments about all of these procedures that are going on." U.S. Ambassador Vernon A. Walters joined the senators for their 75-minute closed-door talks with Kohl. The senators also met with Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Defense Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg during the day. Lugar said Kohl told the Americans that reunification would be a "procedure that depends on many events in Germany and Europe" and that the Soviet Union and the United States have a role to play. Lugar said of Kohl's proposals, "There is much to work with there with regard to the future of Germany and the future of the (NATO) alliance." 
 The government on Thursday allowed for the possibility of a reunified Germany, but said such a state must be formed gradually and respect Poland's borders. In the Solidarity government's first definitive statement on the issue, Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski told Parliament the two German states could be joined as part of the process of uniting Europe. He said German reunification "cannot go ahead" of the reunification of Europe. "A reunited Germany will not be created tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," Skubiszewski said. "Fears and concerns appearing every now and then, including in Poland, are unjustified, although alertness is recommended." Asked about German reunification at a news conference in Gdansk, Solidarity labor leader Lech Walesa said he prefers "no political changes in Europe, but there should be all kinds of economic integrations." Western European countries have agreed to form an economic union by the end of 1992. Sweeping democratic reforms have taken hold in East Germany in the past several weeks under the pressure of mass protests, spurring talk of reuniting the two German states divided at the end of World War II. West Germany has proposed a plan for greater unity, but East German leaders reject reunification. The specter of a powerful, reunited Germany has troubed many Poles, especially the older ones who recall the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland that began World War II. A reported surge in anti-Polish sentiment in East Germany in recent weeks has heightened Polish anxieties. Skubiszewski's speech seemed designed to reassure Poles that the government does not see unification in the near future and will insist on Poland's current borders. Skubiszewski faulted West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's program for gradual German reunification, offered last week, for not making clear that reunification would respect the existing border between Poland and East Germany. Some right-wing West German politicians have called for recovering the 40,000 square miles of territory that Germany lost to Poland at the end of World War II. The territory is about one-third of present-day Poland. East Germany and West Germany each separately has recognized the border, but there has been no official assurance that a reunified Germany would also acknowledge the border. "One can only unite within established borders and without territorial arguments," said Skubiszewski. He also said German reunification is unlikely as long as West Germany belongs to NATO and East Germany to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military alliance. 
 The Communist Party today admitted that East Germany's socialist system has failed, and expressed support for a type of partnership with West Germany. The statement in the Communist Party newspaper Neues Deutschland was one of the bluntest official assessments to date of the country's increasingly troubled situation. It came a day after shouting matches broke out over German reunification during pro-democracy protests in Leipzig and Dresden. Also today, Secretary of State James A. Baker III urged caution on the reunification issue. He visited the Berlin Wall and met with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and East German Premier Hans Modrow. In another development, the largest opposition movement, New Forum, announced it will take part as a political party in the country's first free elections, scheduled for May 6. Neues Deutschland, in proposing a new party platform, said "socialism has definitely failed as a social system in our country" and acknowledged that the "popular revolutionary movement" of the past weeks had led to the scrapping of the old system. The paper repeated the Communists' promise to work for a new "democratic socialism" within a multi-party system. During the past few weeks, both Germanys have increased business and cultural ties but have debated what labels to use for closer relations, since the East Berlin government rejects calls for reunification. Neues Deutschland urged a "qualified partnership of both German states" but rejected any suggestions of resolving the "German question." During Monday's demonstrations that drew more than 200,000 protesters, the largest of them the now-weekly rally in the southern city of Leipzig, speakers warned that the reunification issue could fracture the popular movement that has forced the ruling Communists into swift retreat. One sign said "Germany United Fatherland," using a phrase from the West German national anthem. Others, opposing reunification, urged "No Fourth Reich" and no transformation of East Germany into West Germany's "plantation." ADN said 40,000 people demonstrated for reunification in Karl-Marx-Stadt, while several thousand people split into pro- and anti-reunification groups at a rally in Dresden. Smaller rallies were also reported by ADN in Schwerin, Potsdam, Neubrandenburg and Halle. The agency did not say if reunification played a role in those protests. The rallies came shortly after the four victorious World War II Allies met in West Berlin to discuss the latest developments in East Germany and Berlin _ the divided city that they still technically administer. The meeting brought together officials of the United States, France and Britain with Soviet officials, who have increasingly expressed concern over calls in both Germanys to reunite the country. Kohl has advocated a confederation of the two Germanys, to be followed by eventual reunification. But he stressed to reporters on Monday that "the goal of our policies is not to create an overpowering Germany in the middle of Europe." The West German leader advocates a reunified Germany that would respect the security needs _ and borders _ of the rest of Europe. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, during a Central Committee in Moscow on Saturday, urged the West not to try to influence developments in East Germany. East Germany is a front line of defense for the Soviets, who have nearly 400,000 troops in the country. ADN said Gorbachev would meet soon with Gregor Gysi, a reformer who was chosen East German Communist Party chief on Saturday. Gysi's rise followed the ouster of two sets of Communist leaders. Since East Germans began agitating for an end to Communist domination two months ago, public pressure has forced the opening of the Berlin Wall and pushed the Communists to promise free elections and relinquish their political monopoly. 
 The government has decided to give ethnic Germans and Crimean Tatars who were expelled from their homelands by Josef Stalin their own autonomous regions but it will take years, Tass reported Wednesday. "The ice has been broken. A start has been made. We're working on creating such autonomy," said Rafik Nishanov, chairman of a chamber of the Soviet legislature, in remarks carried by the official news agency. However, he said, the nuts and bolts of how to create the regions still had to be worked out. "For example, a 10-year program on resettlement. People can't just be expelled from the area for others to move in." The Tatars of the Crimea and the ethnic Germans who lived on the Volga River were forcibly resettled during World War II, when Josef Stalin kicked peoples out of their homelands on the grounds they could not be trusted to occupy strategic areas. The Tatars and Germans, among others, long have been agitating to return from Siberia and Central Asia to their traditional lands, and last month the Supreme Soviet legislature declared that all peoples exiled under Stalin should be considered politically rehabilitated. But other people now occupy the lands and houses that belonged to the exiles, and re-establishing their dominion in their home regions will not be so simple. The Supreme Soviet took the basic decision that the two autonmous regions should be created on Nov. 28 but kept it quiet, apparently fearing explosive reactions from the populations now living in the regions. It was also a potentially dangerous precedent: The Soviet Union is a patchwork of well over 100 ethnic groups, and many of them have outstanding territorial claims. Trouble already has been reported between ethnic Germans and Russians in several cities on the Volga. Residents of the Saratov and Volgograd regions have protested the prospect of seeing many of the nation's estimated 2 million Germans descending on them. Ethnographers estimate there are some 500,000 Crimean Tatars in the Soviet Union, and another 1 million in Turkey. Their protests near the Kremlin in 1987 demanding to be allowed to return to their homeland were among the first tests of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's promises of greater democracy. Several thousand Tatars have been filtering back to the Crimea each year despite the lack of wholesale permission to return. A wave of some 100,000 ethnic Germans emigrated to West Germany this year, but many would probably stay if they could be assured of their own republic, said Irina Ostroukh, a researcher at the Soviet Institute of Ethnography who studies ethnic Germans. The Nov. 28 plan approved by the Supreme Soviet recommended excluding from the German region areas where resistance to German resettlement was strongest in order to avoid ethnic conflicts. The explosive conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has led to 200 deaths and hundreds of thousands of refugees in the last two years. Both sides claim control over the mountainous enclave. The Supreme Soviet charged the government with creating a commmission to determine how to create the regions for the Germans and Crimean Tatars. 
 In what amounted to a public apology, Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Soviet leaders today eulogized Andrei D. Sakharov as a "man of honesty and sincerity" who suffered great injustice at the hands of previous rulers. An obituary signed by Gorbachev, five other members of the ruling Communist Party Politburo and 50 other leading officials and scholars was printed along with a picture of Sakharov on page 4 of the party daily Pravda. Such obituaries are reserved for favored public figures and scientists, and Pravda emphasized the importance of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner by printing a decree about the formation of a funeral commission in a black box on its front page. Sakharov, 68, died Thursday night in his study, just hours after urging fellow members of the Congress of People's Deputies to create a formal opposition to the party in their drive to break its seven-decade strangehold on political power. "A distinguished scientist and public figure, a man of honesty and sincerity has passed away," the obituary said. "Everything that Andrei Dmitrievich did was dictated by his conscience, his deep humanitarian convictions." The obituary noted Sakharov was exiled in the industrial city of Gorky about 250 miles east of Moscow from 1980 to 1986. "Gross injustices were permitted in relation to A.D. Sakharov," it said. It was signed by Gorbachev and fellow Politburo members Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, Vadim A. Medvedev, Lev N. Zaikov, Alexander N. Yakovlev and Vitaly I. Vorotnikov. However, the signatures of several other Politburo members, including KGB chief Vladimir A. Kryuchkov and leading conservative Yegor K. Ligachev were missing. Absence of their signatures could signify that the disagreed with part of the obituary. Ligachev, interviewed by the Tass news agency on Friday, had said he disagreed with Sakharov but respected him. It was Leonid I. Brezhnev, now blamed by Gorbachev for permitting stagnation and corruption to overcome the Soviet system, who exiled Sakharov for criticizing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. Gorbachev called Sakharov in Gorky in December 1986 and told him he could return to Moscow. The Soviet leader told reporters at the Congress of People's Deputies that Sakharov's death was a "great loss." Even though the two often tangled at the Congress, Gorbachev said he respected Sakharov. "He was not some sort of political intriguer," the Soviet president said Friday. Gorbachev said he would attend Sakharov's funeral Monday afternoon in southwest Moscow's Vostryakovskoye Cemetery. Several hundred people gathered outside Sakharov's apartment building Friday evening, holding candles and wreathing his photograph in flowers. Memorial services were scheduled Sunday at the city's main youth center, and on Monday at the Lebedev physics institute where Sakharov worked and the Academy of Sciences, of which he was a leading member. The popular nighttime TV program "Vzglad" showed a brief interview with his widow, Yelena Bonner, discussing the funeral arrangements. The obituary also praised Sakharov's vision as a scientist, which made him the youngest-ever member of the Academy of Sciences at age 32 and led to his inclusion in a group that developed the Soviet hydrogen bomb. But it said that Sakharov realized the danger of the weapon he had helped create. "Working on the creation of weapons of mass destruction, A.D. Sakharov understood early the danger for humanity of their wide production and testing, and stubbornly placed before the government the question of limiting such tests," it said. "But at that time his appeals were not accepted," it said. "He kept these same positions in the future." 
 Mourners sobbed and shook their heads in disbelief Sunday as tens of thousands viewed the flower-draped body of Andrei D. Sakharov in a huge outpouring of grief for the man described as his country's conscience. Crimean Tatars and Jewish refuseniks _ two of the groups Sakharov helped _ joined rank-and-file Communists, teachers and engineers in filing past the body of the physicist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, human rights advocate and legislator. Based on official sources, an estimated 45,000 people filed through, and the flow of mourners continued into the night. A friend of the family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he heard estimates that 70,000 mourners viewed the body before it was returned to Sakharov's apartment at midnight. "My God! Forgive us!" one elderly woman cried out as she saw Sakharov's body in an open coffin, sloping to the floor of the beige marble Youth Palace in central Moscow. She apparently meant to apologize for not recognizing his contributions earlier. A mound of red and white carnations grew steadily at Sakharov's feet, and a spotlight was focused on a portrait showing Sakharov with his hands over his mouth, deep in thought. An organ and piano alternated dirges. Sakharov died Thursday alone in his study at the age of 68, apparently of a heart attack, ending a three-decade fight against the jailing of innocent people, for free emigration, for disarmament and other causes. Sunday was the first of two days of memorial ceremonies, and the outpouring was remarkable for a man who was once ostracized and committed to nearly seven years in internal exile in the remote city of Gorky. There were signs of grief throughout this snowy capital of 9 million people, as though a government leader had died. The huge line of mourners, sometimes four deep and heavily bundled against below-zero temperatures, stretched a mile from the palace and poured continuously out of a subway station. So many people wanted to see Sakharov's body lying in state that authorities extended the viewing period by four hours and moved the coffin so two rows of mourners could file past. Roald Z. Sagdeyev, a member of the official funeral commission, said about 3,000 people an hour were arriving initially, but the official news agency Tass said that rate doubled later, making for a total of 45,000 by nighttime. Police lined the sidewalks where people waited. Sakharov's widow Yelena Bonner, pleased authorities were not turning people away, praised them for being "very democratic." In her first detailed public comments on her husband's death, Bonner said she hopes he will not be idolized. "I would not wish a living person _ he has lived an animated, happy life _ to be turned into an icon, an icon which could be used by various forces in their interests," Bonner said in an interview broadcast on Soviet TV. She said, however, that she hopes Sakharov's writings, published abroad long ago, will become widely available in his homeland so there can be a conversation of "the people of the future with Andrei Dmitrievich." Mourners carried small portraits of Sakharov and red and white carnations to place near his coffin. One man, Sergei Kosykh, brought his 7-year-old daughter along. "My daughter, who is being brought up with the belief that there is nobody greater than (Soviet founder Vladimir) Lenin, I have brought her here today just to show her the person greater than Lenin," he said. A middle-aged woman drew from Russian literature to reflect on Sakharov's contributions. "He was like the man from one of Maxim Gorky's tales who used his own bleeding and living heart as a torch to lead people to light and truth," said the woman, a teacher who declined to give her name. "Sakharov always was telling the truth and by doing so forced our leadership to do the same," said Boris Sorokin, a 50-year-old designer. Unofficial shrines sprouted outside Sakharov's southeast Moscow apartment, where candles flickered alongside his portrait. Outside the offices of the weekly newspaper Moscow News on Pushkin Square, a popular gathering place for political activists, portraits and flowers were displayed. An entry in a notebook for mourners' comments outside Sakharov's apartment building declared, "The conscience of the nation has died." Moscow News _ an organ of the official press, which had branded Sakharov an "utterly ignorant person" _ took the rare step Sunday of publishing a special edition devoted to the activist. Four pages were filled with pictures of him, condolence telegrams from exiled writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn and President Bush and a text of Sakharov's last public remarks, a speech he delivered hours before his death in which he said the Soviet hierarchy was "leading the country to a catastrophe." On Sunday night, Soviet TV's newscast "Seven Days" also paid tribute to Sakharov, leading the program with a 10-minute report on him. The Communist Party daily Pravda published a poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko that read in part: "History's most peaceful rebel, in dying, did not come down from the cross, but left a horrifying hole in the moral fabric of the world." On Saturday, Pravda published what amounted to a public apology to Sakharov. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders said in an obituary that Sakharov had been the victim of "gross injustices" and praised him as a "man of honesty and sincerity." Bonner, Sakharov's constant companion and fellow human rights activist, sat closest to the coffin, clutching a black handbag and periodically closing her eyes. A son and daughter from his first marriage and son and daughter of Bonner also attended, along with four grandchildren. Gorbachev was expected to pay his last respects Monday, when the funeral is planned, and on Sunday was represented by Yevgeny M. Primakov, chairman of the funeral commission and a non-voting member of the country's ruling Politburo. The foreign dignitaries expected to take part in Monday's ceremonies include Lech Walesa, head of Poland's Solidarity movement, who will be making his first trip to the Soviet Union, and former refuseniks Yosef Begun and Vladimir Slepak, who now live in Israel. Israel's best known Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky, was refused a visa when he applied for permission to travel to Moscow, said Sharansky's spokesman, Avraham Ben-Yaakov. Begun and Slepak said they would lay a wreath on Sakharov's grave in Sharansky's name. 
 President Bush has named career diplomat Deane Hinton as ambassador to Panama, the White House announced Tuesday. Hinton, currently ambassador to Costa Rica, replaces Ambassador Arthur H. Davis, who was recalled by Bush in protest of what the administration considered the stealing of the Panamanian elections last May by Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. Bush sent Davis back to Panama City after the Dec. 20 invasion of Panama by U.S. forces and installation of Guillermo Endara as president. Independent observers mostly concluded Endara had won the elections by a hefty margin. Bush named Hinton as a recess appointment because Congress is not in session. That means Hinton can serve until the end of next year before he must go before the Senate for confirmation. The appointment of the 66-year-old Hinton, with his long expierience on Latin American issues, is seen as a signal of the importance Bush is placing on restoring normal relations with Panama. Those relations steadily deteriorated after the United States indicted Noriega, once a ally particularly of the U.S. intelligence community, on drug trafficking charges in Florida. Hinton has been ambassador to Costa Rica since 1987. Before that he was ambassador to Pakistan from 1983 to 1987, and ambassador to El Salvador from 1981 to 1983. He was assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs from 1979 to 1981, and before that U.S. representative to the 12-nation European Community, headquartered in Brussels, a State Department adviser on economic affairs, and director and economic counselor of the State Department's Agency for economic Development in Chile and in Guatemala. Davis, a former State Department consultant and former ambassador to Paraguay, was sent to Panama by President Reagan in 1986. Bush wanted to name his own ambassador and the time was appropriate with the installation of a new government in Panama, said one administration official. Officials described Hinton as "an experienced Latin America hand" and a good person to have in place with the volatile developments in the South American country. On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, called Hinton highly qualified for the post because of his "wide-ranging experience and expertise in Central America." However, Mitchell said he hoped Bush would send the appointment to the Senate after Congress convenes Jan. 23 despite the nature of the recess appointment. 
 Former East German leader Erich Honecker may be moved to a monastery to protect him from a possible lynching by enraged citizens, a newspaper said Wednesday. In a front-page story, the mass-circulation Bild newspaper said "Lynch Danger _ Church Wants to Grant Honecker Asylum." Since Honecker was ousted Oct. 18, the former Communist Party leader and other party officials have come under investigation for charges of corruption and living in luxury at the cost of the state. In December, seven former Politburo members were arrested, and Honecker was placed under house arrest in the government housing area of Wandlitz outside East Berlin. The Wandlitz homes, including the one in which Honecker still lives, are being converted to a medical rehabilitation center for children. Honecker is expected to be forced out of the compound in February. Bild said it had information that "Lutheran and Catholic church sources have offered Honecker _ who is threated by public rage _ protection and refuge." "This is the only possibility to protect Erich Honecker from the rage of the East German people," Bild quoted the source as saying. It was the churches that became the venues for gathering of pro-democracy groups that eventually brought the overthrow of his 18-year leadership. In recent weeks, East German groups have called for punishing Honecker and for moving him to smaller quarters "with an outside toilet," Bild said. The current leadership fears that in such a situation, Honecker "might be attacked and become a victim of lynch justice," Bild said. Honecker, 77, underwent gall-bladder surgery in August, and East German media reported he remains seriously ill. "Sources say the ailing ex-leader may be placed in a church-operated home for the elderly, or even in a monastery," Bild reported. 
 Jurors who have reached verdicts on 52 counts in the McMartin preschool molestation case said Wednesday they are deadlocked on the remaining 13 charges in the nation's longest, costliest criminal trial. Superior Court Judge William Pounders received a note from the jurors as they ended their day's deliberation and called a hearing for Thursday to discuss the deadlock and possibly opening the 52 sealed verdicts. In an interview Wednesday evening, Pounders said he would deal with the deadlocked counts first, either declaring a mistrial on those counts and reading the sealed verdicts, or sending the jury back to resume deliberations on the undecided counts. He said the verdicts could also be read before sending the jury back. However, the judge noted that "The attorneys are hopeful all the counts will be resolved before we take any verdicts." Pounders said he would discuss the matter with attorneys before quizzing jurors on whether they want to deliberate further. The jurors are deciding whether Raymond Buckey, 31, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 63, are guilty or innocent of charges they molested children at their family-owned McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach. The jury that spent 2{ years hearing evidence in the case have agreed on 52 verdicts. They have all been sealed. None of the verdicts is official until it is announced in court and affirmed by the jury. Jurors are in their ninth week of deliberations. Buckey and his mother are charged with 64 counts of child molestation and the one shared count of conspiracy. One of the charges which apparently has divided the jurors is the conspiracy charge which names both defendants. Jurors asked twice for an explanation of how they could convict one defendant and acquit the other on that joint charge, but seemed perplexed after they received an explanation earlier Wednesday. After conferring with lawyers, Pounders told jurors they could convict just one of the defendants on the charge "if you feel that the defendant conspired with one or more other persons." However, he noted the conspiracy count includes eight alleged overt acts, some of them naming only one defendant. A split verdict, he said, would require elimination of overt acts alleged against a defendant acquitted of the charge. It was at that point, he said, that some jurors began shaking their heads in confusion. Buckey and his mother were the only defendants required to stand trial after an 18-month preliminary hearing. Five women teachers who worked at the McMartin Pre-School had charges against them dismissed. Among those were Buckey's sister, Peggy Ann, and his grandmother, Virginia McMartin, who founded the prestigious but now defunct nursery school. On Tuesday, deliberations were halted at midday because a juror became ill. On Wednesday, the talks did not begin until 1 p.m. because another juror's child was ill. No alternates remain in the case and the judge has worried that losing one of the 12 remaining jurors would force a mistrial. 
 As protests gathered strength last fall, East Germany's longtime orthodox leader Erich Honecker "lost touch with reality," according to the man who succeeded him as Communist leader only to be ousted later. Egon Krenz, the successor, and former Politburo member Guenter Schabowski on Wednesday gave their versions of the bunker mentality that engulfed the hard-liners toward the end. "There was the notion in the former party leadership that everything outside of planned events and demonstrations staged by the Communist youth group was an action organized by enemy forces," Krenz told an investigating commission in East Berlin. The testimony was broadcast on East German television. Schabowski said Honecker had personally ordered police attacks against demonstrators in early October, working closely with his then-secret police chief, Erich Mielke. "Honecker took things into his own hands," Schabowski said. "All decisions and orders that led to the police actions against demonstrators and to their arrrest went exclusively through Honecker and Mielke." Like Krenz, Schabowski denied any personal responsibility for the orders to attack the demonstrators in the capital. The attempts at suppression were engineered by Honecker and Mielke, bypassing the other 19 members of the ruling Politburo, Krenz insisted. "Then-general secretary Erich Honecker and the internal security chief Erich Mielke immediately after each session of the Politburo consulted with each other on the security situation of the German Democratic Republic," Krenz said. Honecker and Mielke are now targeted for an indictment for high treason. The East Berlin city government commission is probing possible criminal charges stemming from police brutality during the October attacks in the capital. Club-swinging riot police brutally beat demonstrators on Oct. 7 and 8, when Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was in town to commemorate the country's 40th anniversary. The uprising was a turning point that speeded Honecker's downfall 10 days later. Krenz, who had responsibility for many internal security functions before Honecker's ouster, criticized the use of force during his testimony Wednesday. "The excessive action of law enforcement authorities was neither politically nor morally justifiable," he told the panel, speaking confidently and wearing a gray suit. Krenz, who was thrown out six weeks after succeeding Honecker on Oct. 18, insisted he knew nothing about any orders to shoot demonstrators. Numerous news media accounts have said Honecker either planned or issued such orders. Krenz said he accepted "joint responsibility for misjudging dissident citizens and dissident groups for years." "From today's viewpoint it is incomprehensible that there was no general Politburo discussion about the negative developments then taking place in society," said Krenz, an influential Politburo member even before Honecker's fall. Krenz added that he and other then-members of the Politburo failed to realize that the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches were "not working against but rather for the German Democratic Republic." "Honecker had lost touch with reality and had unrealistic perspectives," Krenz said of his one-time patron, who for years treated him like a son. Honecker has been in ill health following gallbladder surgery last summer. He was recently operated on for a malignant kidney tumor. Krenz's current occupation has not been publicized, following his fall as party chief on Dec. 3. 
 Thursday's acquittals in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case outraged parents who said prosecutors botched it, while those on the defense side proclaimed a triumph of justice over hysteria and hype. Mother-and-son defendants Peggy McMartin Buckey, 63, and Raymond Buckey, 31, wept as the verdicts were announced. Jurors found the pair innocent of 52 charges and couldn't reach a verdict on 13 other counts. Prosecutors must decide whether to try those charges in a new trial. "I just said, `I told you Ray,"' Mrs. Buckey said. Asked if her son was surprised, she said. "He had fear, definitely." Buckey avoided reporters and slipped out the courthouse with his lawyer. "If it can happen to seven innocent people it can happen to you, too. If it had not been in my faith in God I wouldn't be here today," she said. But several parents of former students at the school said the Buckeys won because the system lost. "It was never done properly," said parent Alan Lagunoff, who moved to Central California from suburban Manhattan Beach. "I have to sit back and figure out what to do with my son. I fear that because of this verdict, no child will be seen as a credible witness from now on." His son, now 10, attended the school for 1{ years but wasn't a witness at the trial. "I don't think it's worth it to bring this thing back into the courts. It will just be another six-year travesty," Lagunoff said. "The system is not going to protect children," said Jackie McGauley, a parent who believes her child had been molested but didn't testify in the case. "I don't know what the message is that the jury wanted to get out. I'm anxious to hear that." Charles Buckey, father of Raymond and husband of Mrs. Buckey, suggested Deputy District Attorney Lael Rubin, who prosecuted the case for its entire six years, was motivated by personal ambition. "My concern primarily was Lael Rubin, who is `anything goes' in order to secure a conviction. ... If you don't win, you don't get promoted," he said. Juror Brenda Williams said the evidence failed to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt in 52 of the charges. "Even if you accept that the children were molested, it didn't necessarily mean they were molested at the McMartin Pre-School," Ms. Williams told reporters. Raymond Buckey spent nearly five years in jail without bail during the case, which defense attorneys said was the result of community hysteria sparked by bizarre allegations by the alcoholic mother of one child at the preschool. Some observers accused then-District Attorney Robert Philibosian of using the spectacular charges to boost his failing re-election campaign against Ira Reiner, who beat him and now runs the district attorney's office. Philibosian, however, insisted he would not have handled the matter differently. "Ira Reiner has had that case for five years, and I am not going to take any public criticism directed at me. Let him respond to the criticism," said Philibosian, now in private law practice. Also criticized was the decision by investigators to use a private child therapy group, Children's Institute International, to conduct the original interviews with the children. Defense attorneys maintained that questions by the institute's researchers were leading and prejudicial. Jurors agreed. "We never got the children's stories in their own words," said juror John Breese. Children's Institute officials didn't immediately return telephone calls seeking comment. Originally, there were seven defendants, including Raymond Buckey's sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, and Virginia McMartin, the founder of the school, mother of Mrs. Buckey and grandmother of Raymond Buckey. Hundreds of allegations of child molestation were filed in the case, which gained worldwide attention with its tales of underground tunnels at the school and Satanic rituals. The focus of the case shifted dramatically over the years as Reiner reduced the number of charges and dropped five defendants after reviewing the case. The underground tunnels were never found. No proof was ever produced of Satanic rituals. Reiner said the system must be changed to prevent such long, expensive prosecution. "It took far too long and cost far too much money to have what has been called perfect justice. We need reform," Reiner said, adding that in trying to describe the case, "Insane is the word that comes to mind." The case was the longest and the costliest in American judicial history, at 2{ years and $15 million. Superior Court Judge William Pounders said he did what he could to limit its length, cutting 50 witnesses and narrowing the scope of the case. For parents and others, there was more to ponder than legal questions. "Life is not fair. I tell my children all the time ... there is no such thing as fair," said Robert Currie, whose son attended McMartin but didn't testify at the trial. "It's really a travesty for a case to take this long," said Ms. Rubin, the prosecutor. "...Not only for the families, the children in this case, but also for the defendants as well." 
 Jurors in the McMartin Pre-School molestation case denounced the techniques of a child therapy center and a police department letter that inflamed parents and ignited the case. Seven jurors who spoke with reporters in a joint news conference after acquitting Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, on 52 molestation charges Thursday said they felt some children who testified may have been molested _ but not at the family-run McMartin Pre-School. And they said some children may have merely repeated stories told them by their parents and interviewers at Children's Institute International. The private child therapy center, which specializes in abused children, videotaped interviews with children from the McMartin school after reports of molestations surfaced. Jurors saw the tapes in which interviewers used anatomically explicit puppets and leading questions to elicit descriptions of molestation from children. Asked what led to acquittals, juror Brenda Williams focused on the taped interviews from the center jurors call CII. "The CII interviews _ I could not accept them," Mrs. Williams said. "I believe the children believe what they were saying was true. But at CII, I could not tell if the children were saying what was told to them (by interviewers) or if they were repeating what their parents had told them. "If the CII tapes had not been entered into evidence and I had not seen them, I could have believed the children a little more,"' Mrs. Williams said. "The CII tapes did not help me. They gave me a lot of reasonable doubt," agreed juror Julie Peters, 47, a supermarket meat wrapper. "The children were never allowed to say in their own words what happened to them. All the questions were leading. They never had a chance to tell their stories," said juror John Breese, 51, a medical technician and grandfather of five. "I tried to believe the children," said juror Daryl Hutchins 28, an oil company lease operator. "But if the child was so contaminated (by the interviews) I couldn't." Equal criticism was aimed at a letter sent in 1983 by the Manhattan Beach Police Department to parents of McMartin school children. The letter alerted parents to a claim of molestation at the school and to Buckey's arrest. "The police letter should never have been sent," said juror Sally Cordova, 27, a supermarket checker. "It put the information out there too early. The whole city knew." At that point, jurors said, they felt parents had been programmed to believe their children had been molested. "One child said his parents told him that he was molested even before he went to CII," Mrs. Williams recalled. The panelists said they threw out entirely the most fantastic allegations, including some children's accounts of being molested in a car wash. "We just dismissed those," said Mrs. Williams. They said a series of medical slides shown to them lacked impact because they weren't sure what they were seeing in the photos of children's genitals. Although they acquitted defendants of most charges, the jurors deadlocked on 13 counts. Some said they were unsure whether Buckey was a molester but were sure the prosecution had failed to prove its molestation allegations against him beyond a reasonable doubt. Jurors said they didn't rule out that some children in the case were molested _ but not by these defendants. "Even if you accept that the children were molested," said juror Mark Bassett, "the evidence didn't establish that they were molested at the McMartin Pre-School." The panelists said they were aware of the trial's enormous toll on defendants as well as children and parents. "I think everybody is a victim," said Ms. Peters. "I don't think anybody came out of this case a winner. I think it's sad because everybody lost something. The defendants _ their lives have been ruined. They lost their business, their reputation. It's sad." Mrs. Williams added, "The children have to live with this. The parents have to live with this. There's nothing I can say that will make it better." As for themselves, the jurors said their lives were "put on hold" for nearly three years. Bassett lost his job as a research computer scientist when his company folded. Mrs. Williams got married. Breese said his wife died during the trial and he has since remarried. "It's been very hard," said Mrs. Williams, a telephone company service representative. "There were days when I thought I couldn't stand it anymore. "I don't really know my job anymore," she said. "It's going to be hard getting back into the real world." The jury foreman and four other jurors declined interviews. 
 The McMartin Pre-school molestation case was the longest criminal trial in U.S. history. Here is a chronology of the case: _Aug. 12, 1983: Judy Johnson makes a phone call to Manhattan Beach Police Department and tells Detective Jane Hoag that she believes her 2{-year-old son was molested by Raymond Buckey at the McMartin Pre-School. _Sept. 7, 1983: Ms. Hoag arrests Buckey, but he is released later that day for lack of evidence. Police continue the investigation and stir controversy by sending letters to 200 parents naming Buckey as a child molestation suspect and asking them to interrogate their children about oral sex, fondling of genitals and sodomy. _Fall of 1983 to spring of 1984: Nearly 400 children are interviewed by Children's Institute International, and 41 are listed as victims in a complaint filed by the state. _Feb. 2, 1984: KABC-TV reporter Wayne Satz, in a newscast, describes dozens of alleged acts of oral copulation and sodomy with children. _March 22, 1984: Public outcry prompts Los Angeles District Attorney Robert Philibosian to send the case to grand jurors, who indict Buckey; his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey; his sister, Peggy Ann Buckey; his grandmother Virginia McMartin, and three employees, Mary Ann Jackson, Babette Spitler and Betty Raidor, on 115 charges of child molestation. _March 24, 1984: All seven defendants are arrested and jailed. Buckey and his mother are held without bail. Bail for he others ranges from $50,000 to $350,000. Lael Rubin, Christine Johnston and Glenn Stevens are assigned to the prosecution team. Stevens is later removed for expressing doubts about evidence, and Ms. Johnston asks for reassignment. _April 20, 1984: The seven defendants plead innocent at an arraignment, during which they are charged with sexually abusing 18 children over 10 years and using death threats to silence them. _June 6, 1984: A preliminary hearing starts with Municipal Judge Aviva K. Bobb presiding. Thirteen of the 41 alleged victims chosen from CII interviews take the stand during the 18-month hearing. _Jan. 22, 1985: The first child witness in the preliminary hearing testifies that he and other pupils played "naked games" and that he had been touched on his genitals by some of the defendants. _Jan. 9, 1986: Judge Bobb orders all seven defendants to stand trial in Superior Court on 135 counts of molestation and conspiracy, ending the longest preliminary hearing in California history. The cost of the hearing was estimated at $4 million. _Jan. 17, 1986: District Attorney Ira Reiner says there is insufficient evidence to warrant a trial for five of the seven defendants and asks dismissal of charges against Virginia McMartin, Peggy Ann Buckey, Mary Ann Jackson, Babette Spitler and Betty Raidor. The remaining defendants, Buckey and his mother, still face 100 counts of molestation and conspiracy. _Jan. 23, 1986: Mrs. Buckey is released on $295,000 bail, reduced from $495,000. _Dec. 19, 1986: Judy Johnson, the mother who made the first allegations against Buckey, is found dead, naked and face down in her home, at age 44. The coroner says she died of fatty metamorphosis of the liver, an ailment commonly found in alcoholics. _April 20, 1987: The trial begins with jury selection. By July 1, 12 jurors and six alternates are chosen from 500 prospective panelists. _July 13, 1987: Opening statements begin after efforts to move the case elsewhere are quashed by Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders. _July 29, 1987: The first parent to testify says his daughter's behavior indicates she may have been abused at the school, but he didn't recognize the warning signs at the time. _Dec. 10, 1987: Paul Bynum, 39, a former police officer who once served as a defense investigator in the case, is found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. _Oct. 17, 1988: The judge dismisses eight molestation counts against Buckey and his mother. They now face a combined 65 counts of molestation and conspiracy involving 11 former McMartin pupils. _Feb. 15, 1989: Buckey is released on $1.5 million bail after being jailed nearly five years. _April 27, 1989: The trial, hitting the 2-year, 4-day mark, becomes the longest criminal hearing in U.S. history when it surpasses by one day the Hillside Strangler trial of Angelo Buono in 1982-83. _May 16, 1989: Peggy McMartin Buckey takes the stand for the first time and strongly denies she ever sexually assaulted her students. _July 26, 1989: Buckey takes the stand and denies he has ever molested children. _Nov. 2, 1989: Jurors adjourn to select a foreman and begin deliberations. The eight-men, four-women panel must sift through volumes of testimony from 124 witnesses. _Jan. 18, 1990: The jury acquits Buckey and his mother of 52 counts. The judge declares a mistrial on 13 other counts _ 12 against Buckey and one against both Buckey and his mother. 
 A therapist defended her interviews of alleged victims in the McMartin Pre-School molestation trial, despite criticism by several jurors who said leading questions undermined the prosecution's case. The jury on Thursday acquitted Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation counts and deadlocked on 13 other counts. Therapist Kee McFarlane later defended her work with hundreds of McMartin students, and suggested that the goals of therapy are at odds with the legal standards required for a successful criminal prosecution. "What is in the interest of children is not always in the interest of the legal system," she said. Evidence introduced by prosecutors in what became the longest and most expensive criminal trial in U.S. history included videotaped interviews of the alleged victims. Many of the interviews were conducted at an early stage of the sexual abuse investigation by MacFarlane, a social worker and director of the Child Sexual Abuse Center at Children's Institute International. MacFarlane said Thursday she still believes children from the school had been molested and that they had not fabricated their accounts of abuse. "This agency would never have gone all the way through what we have if we did not believe these children," she said. At least seven jurors who attended a news conference agreed the evidence showed children had been molested. But the jurors were sharply critical of the interviewers' technique at the institute. "The children were never allowed to say in their own words what happened to them," said juror John Breese. "All the questions were leading." "If the CII tapes had not been entered into evidence and I had not seen them, I could have believed the children a little more," juror Brenda Williams said. But MacFarlane said that the interviewing techniques were sound, noting that small children must be interviewed differently than adults. "I didn't put words into their mouths," she said. "I tried to enable them to get over their fears." MacFarlane acknowledged that some procedures could have been done differently, including conducting more interviews over a longer period of time. She called the outcome of the case a "tragic consequence of an attempt to prevent trauma to these children." But the institute's executive director, Mary M. Emmons, said some good may come out of the case. "It has greatly increased the awareness about the issue of child sexual abuse and about the problems of prosecuting these cases," she said. 
 There was plenty of blame to go around at the end of the lengthy and traumatic McMartin Pre-School molestation trial, but no one was willing to accept it. In the nation's longest and costliest trial, Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, were acquitted Thursday on 52 child molestation charges. The jury deadlocked on 13 other charges. Afterward, the district attorney who filed the case criticized the current district attorney. The current district attorney blamed his predecessor and defense attorneys. And some of the parents of children who attended the school blamed everybody. "The system is not going to protect children," said Jackie McGauley, a parent who believes her child had been molested but didn't testify in the case. "Life is not fair," said Robert Curry, whose son attended the McMartin school. "I tell my children all the time ... there is no such thing as fair." The district attorney who originally pursued the case said he would not have done anything differently. Robert Philibosian, now in private practice, angrily dismissed accusations that he played up the McMartin case in 1984 _ with the news media acting as eager accomplices _ to boost his public profile as he ran for district attorney. "I was a professional prosecutor for 16 years before this case was brought," he said. "To have people who know very little about professional or prosecutorial ethics, to criticize me personally that I have some political motive is totally unjustified." Philibosian instead pointed the finger at the man who defeated him, current District Attorney Ira Reiner. Philibosian said Reiner hurt prosecutor's chances by dismissing charges against five of the original seven defendants and criticizing the case in a 1986 "60 Minutes" interview. But Reiner, calling his dismissal of charges for lack of evidence "the decision we're proud of," said the trial took so long because of the state's ponderous criminal justice system, delay tactics by defense attorneys and a mess left behind by Philibosian. "This is a case I inherited," Reiner said. In interviews, many jurors said they believed some of the children were molested, but the prosecution never established that the defendants were responsible. "Even if you accept that the children were molested, it didn't necessarily mean they were molested at the McMartin Pre-School," said juror Brenda Williams. 
 "Ray Will Die" is scrawled in big black letters on the faded green paint of the McMartin Pre-School, testimony to the rage inflamed by the notorious child-molesting case. Former McMartin teachers Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, were acquitted Thursday of 52 charges of molesting students. Jurors were deadlocked on 13 other counts. Whatever happens on those charges, few in this upper-middle-class Los Angeles suburb would disagree with the judge in the trial, William Pounders, who once said, "The case has poisoned everyone who had contact with it." Sue Brown, a receptionist at a medical office across the street from the school, said she had two friends who were involved in the case and had been convinced of the Buckeys' guilt. "I think they got off scot-free," Brown said. "I'm really sick about it." Alan Lagunoff, whose son, now 10, testified against the Buckeys, stood in front of the run-down, long-closed nursery school and talked about his disappointment. "The defense did everything to prolong the case and the prosecution did not do enough research to prosecute the case properly," he said. A cold wind blasted leaves across the schoolyard as Lagunoff leaned on the rusted chain-link fence surrounding the dilapidated L-shaped building. "I'd like to see the school become a center for abused children," he said. "It should be put to some good use rather than tear it down." But another longtime Manhattan Beach resident disagreed. "I'd like to see it torn down," said Brenda Platt. "I'd like to have no memories of this." Platt, who has two children aged 1 and 3, said she has serious doubts about placing them in a day-care center because of the McMartin trial. "I think (the McMartin case) is a disgrace to Manhattan Beach and society. It's totally upsetting," Platt said. Linda Geisert, another resident of the beach city, was also upset. "I'm greatly disappointed in the legal system and quite frankly in the jurors," Geisert said. For all his disappointment, Lagunoff said he did not feel the prosecutors should retry the remaining 13 counts. "It would be just more of the same circus," he said. "We put so much faith and hope in our courts," said Robert Canter, 74. "And this is what we get _ frustration." 
 Troops battled mobs of Moslem separatists in the Kashmir city of Srinagar over the weekend, and at least 21 people were killed and 100 wounded before the fighting subsided Sunday night, police said. Fifteen demonstrators were shot and killed Sunday, while six were fatally wounded late Saturday night, according to Mohammad Nomani, inspector general of Srinagar police. Militants defied a curfew and continued trading intermittent shots with government forces on Sunday, officials said. Witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the death toll was at least 30, but that figure could not be confirmed. Nomani, speaking by telephone from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, said the fighting tapered off late Sunday afternoon as heavy rains lashed the city. But gunfire echoed through the deserted streets until evening, one resident said, requesting anonymity. "They (the troops) are shooting at anything moving," he said. "It is a disastrous situation out there," said Ramesh Kaul, a hotel receptionist in Srinagar. At least 47 people have been killed in Jammu-Kashmir state since the beginning of the year in violence triggered by Moslem militants demanding independence or union with Islamic Pakistan. The separatists, led by the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, have often attacked government offices and police officials. "The situation is tense and dangerous," the state's chief secretary, Moosa Raza, said in Jammu, the state's winter capital 95 miles south of Srinagar. Nomani said the police dispatched 25 cars with loudspeakers into the city, to appeal to people to obey the curfew. The cars were escorted by heavily armed troops from the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, he said. A 24-hour curfew was imposed Saturday in a bid to quell escalating violence and mass anti-India demonstrations in Srinagar and nearby towns. But late Saturday, crowds defied curfew and surged into downtown Srinagar chanting "Indian dogs go back!" and "Long live Pakistan!" local reporters said. They said the paramilitary troops opened fire, killing two people instantly and injuring 14. Four of them died later. As news of the shootings spread, thousands of Moslem men poured out of their homes, the reporters said. They said protesters recited verses from the Koran, the Moslem holy book. Some took up a chant urging "mujahedeen," or Islamic holy warriors, to prepare for the final sacrifice in a showdown with India's Hindu-dominated government. Jammu-Kashmir's former state chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, issued a statement accusing authorities of letting loose a "reign of terror and repression." Abdullah's Moslem-dominated National Conference Party is closely aligned with the Congress Party of Rajiv Gandhi, the arch political foe of Prime Minister V.P. Singh. Abdullah's government resigned Friday to protest the appointment of Singh's nominee as the state's new governor and imposition of governor's rule which amounts to tighter federal control over the state. The curfew order was one of the first acts of the new governor, Jagmohan, a tough administrator who had cracked down on Kashmiri militants during an earlier stint as the state's governor. Jagmohan, a Hindu who uses one name, took office Friday. Parts of Kashmir region are claimed by both India and Pakistan. The dispute started when the state was partitioned between the two countries when they gained independence from Britain in 1947. Srinagar's 800,000 people are moslty Moslem, as is a majority of population in the Kashmir region. The Jammu region is predominantly Hindu. India has often accused Pakistan of aiding the Kashmiri militants, a charge Pakistan has denied. Jammu-Kashmir is the only state with a Moslem majority in predominantly Hindu India. Moslems make up 64 percent of the state population of 5 million. Nationwide, Moslems comprise 12 percent of India's 880 million people, while Hindus comprise 82 percent. 
 The San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver Broncos 55-10 Sunday in the most lopsided Super Bowl victory ever. The 49ers' win in the 24th Super Bowl made them the first repeat NFL champion in a decade and tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as a pinnacle of Super Bowl perfection with four wins in four tries. San Francisco won the National Football League championship game in 1989, 1985 and 1982. The Broncos, on the other hand, lost the last four Super Bowl games they have played. San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana made five touchdown passes, three to Jerry Rice, breaking a Super Bowl record for touchdown passes on a day on which he also set a record with 13 straight pass completions. He also set five Super Bowl career records, including his third Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award and San Francisco's point total was the most ever. Montana left the game with nearly 11 minutes to play. In four Super Bowls, he has thrown 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. For Denver quarterback John Elway, it was a day of futility, ending with his third Super Bowl defeat. He missed eight of his first 10 passes and was intercepted twice and fumbled once. By halftime the score was 27-3. With their third loss in four years, the Broncos have now been outscored 136-40. San Francisco was boringly perfect, doing more than even the experts who made them favorites by nearly two touchdowns after a 14-2 season and a waltz through the playoffs. 
 Ousted East German leader Erich Honecker, who is expected to be indicted for high treason, was arrested Monday morning upon release from a hospital and taken to prison, the official news agency ADN said. The news agency said the 77-year-old Honecker was arrested after being released from East Berlin's Charite hospital, where he had undergone surgery for a malignant kidney tumor. Honecker was immediately taken to East Berlin's Rummelsburg prison, the brief dispatch said. Honecker joins other members of his ousted Politburo already in prison awaiting trial. Earlier this month, East German prosecutors said Honecker and former state security chief Erich Mielke would be charged with treason and corruption charges for misuse of their positions and state funds. Honecker, the aging hard-line Stalinist leader who ruled East Germany for 18 years until his ouster on Oct. 18, had previously been declared too ill to withstand imprisonment. ADN said that the director of Charite urology clinic, Dr. Peter Althaus, repeated on Monday that in his opinion Honecker was still not well enough to be jailed. On Sunday, West Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper said Honecker would be arrested, but that he would be held at a prison hospital because of his condition. ADN made not mention if Rummelsburg prison was equipped with a medical facility. Earlier this month, East Germany's Luthern Church had offered to put Honecker up in a home for the aged upon his release from the hospital. 
 Ousted East German leader Erich Honecker was arrested and taken to prison today, and a prosecutor said he will tried for high treason in March. Honecker, 77, was detained after his release from East Berlin's Charite hospital, where he had undergone surgery for a malignant kidney tumor, the official ADN news agency said. Chief Prosecutor Hans-Juergen Joseph told Parliament that Honecker and former Politburo members Erich Mielke, Guenter Mittag and Joachim Herrmann would be tried by the Supreme Court on treason charges in March. All four have been expelled from the party. Mielke was Honecker's security chief, Mittag oversaw the economy and Herrmann headed the party's propaganda department. Eleven members of Honecker's ousted Politburo already are in prison awaiting trial. Honecker's lawyer, Wolfgang Vogel, asked the chief prosecutor to free the former leader from Rummelburg prison based on a doctor's statement that he is too ill to stay in jail, ADN said. Vogel is East Germany's most prominent lawyer. One of Honecker's doctors, Horst Vogler, said the former leader was "very depressed" and his mental state "impaired" following two major surgical operations since August. West German television showed an impassive Honecker being led out of the hospital by his wife, Margot, in pre-dawn darkness. She kissed him goodbye before he was taken away in a large limousine. Honecker's daughter, son-in-law and youngest grandchild also came to see him off at the hospital, ADN quoted Vogler as saying. The charge of high treason carries a maximum life imprisonment. The conviction used to carry the death penalty, but that was abolished in reforms that followed Honecker's ouster Oct. 18. East Germany has been caught up in a virtual frenzy to root out corruption and abuse of office. Honecker, the aging hard-line Stalinist leader who ruled East Germany for 18 years, had previously been declared too ill to withstand imprisonment. ADN said the director of Charite urology clinic, Dr. Peter Althaus, repeated today that in his opinion Honecker is still not well enough to be jailed. On Sunday, West Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper said Honecker would be arrested but that he would be held at a prison hospital because of his condition. ADN did not say whether Rummelsburg prison is equipped with a medical facility. Earlier this month, East Germany's Luthern Church had offered to put Honecker up in a home for the aged upon his release from the hospital. 
 Exotic Kashmir, a tourist paradise of houseboat hotels and Mogul gardens from whose name the English made "cashmere," has become a war zone of separatism and religious enmity. Military jeeps carry senior government officials and civil servants around Srinagar in these dangerous days, as soldiers and paramilitary troopers try to stop a campaign of violence by Moslem separatists in the Kashmir Valley. Intelligence officer M.K. Kaul commands one of the jeeps. At the beginning of a trip through the city of 1 million people, he turned to the four soldiers in the jeep's rear seats and ordered: "Check your weapons. Be ready to fire." Kaul settled into the front seat, a 9mm pistol in his right hand. "These are bad days," he murmured. "These die-hard terrorists can attack from anywhere. To his men, he said: "Shoot them if you see them." On Monday, an around-the-clock curfew was lifted from 5 a.m. until noon and stores opened to crowds of customers. Soldiers in sandbagged bunkers, armed with light machine guns, guarded main intersections. A spokesman for the Jammu-Kashmir state government said the situation was peaceful and "absolutely normal" in Srinagar, the state's largest city. At least 72 people have been killed since the crackdown began Jan. 20 in an effort to curb attacks on government officials and buildings. Most of the dead have been Moslem militants shot by Indian troops. "We are neither fighting a war nor trying to suppress any popular movement," said Jagmohan, governor of Jammu-Kashmir, the only state in predominantly Hindu India with a Moslem majority. "We are fighting a handful of terrorists who are determined to create a law and order problem," said Jagmohan, a Hindu with a reputation for toughness. Other officials in Kashmir say privately the situation is critical, perhaps the most serious threat India has faced in 42 years of independence from Britain. "It looks like everyone here has turned into a fundamentalist with firm belief that the day is not far off when they will become independent," a state police officer said. Kashmir was a separate kingdom, ruled by a Hindu maharajah, when Britain relinquished colonial rule on Aug. 15, 1947, and the subcontinent was partitioned on religious lines into India and Pakistan. The Hindu king opted to join India, not Pakistan, and the dispute over Kashmir has exacerbated relations since. Pakistan took the western part of Kashmir and India the eastern. Each accused the other of forcible occupation. They have fought wars over Kashmir and the border question remains unresolved. U.N. observers are stationed on the truce line and the two sides occasionally trade gunfire. Officials will not say how many reinforcements have been sent to the Kashmir Valley since Jan. 20, but reports from various sources indicate 30,000-and 40,000 soldiers and paramilitary troops have been deployed. It is the valley's heavily Moslem population that tilts the sectarian scale in Jammu-Kashmir state. Of the state's nearly 6 million people, 64 percent are Moslems and 32 percent Hindus. Most Hindus live in the southern Jammu area. Srinagar has 150 mosques. "This is the best breeding ground for Moslem fundamentalism," said a federal official who helps coordinate the new security measures. Nearly every mosque has a loudspeaker to summon the faithful to prayer _ and, more recently, to exhort listeners to defend their faith and Kashmir. "The residents are constantly bombarded with Islamic sermons and are reminded that fighting a `jihad' (Islamic holy war) is the most sacred duty of every Moslem," the federal official said, on condition of anonymity. Electricity was cut off in the city Friday, which was both the Moslem sabbath and India's national Republic Day on India's Republic Day, but many mosque loudspeakers continued operating because militants connected them to car batteries. Intelligence reports suggest the government has an advantage because the separatists are not united. The most powerful group is the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, but there are several others, including the Allah Tigers, Hezb-e-Mujahed Hezb-e-Islami. India claims the fundamentalists get money and weapons from Pakistan. The Pakistanis deny it. Jagmohan, the governor, insists the main issue in Kashmir is economic development, not separatism. "The people do not want violence or the so-called independent Kashmir," he said. "The need of the hour is development. Let more tourists come. Let new schools be built. Let new hospitals come up." As he spoke, military officers waited in the next room to discuss a new strategy to crush rebellion in what the tourist brochures call Paradise. Right now, Paradise looks lost, at least temporarily. 
 The San Francisco 49ers' 55-10 rout of the Denver Broncos was the lowest-rated Super Bowl in 21 years and the third-lowest ever. The game on CBS averaged a 39.0 rating and a 63 share, the lowest Super Bowl rating since 1969, when the New York Jets' 16-7 victory over Baltimore got a 36.0 on NBC for the worst rating ever, A.C. Nielsen Co. said today. The rating is a percentage of the nation's televisions; each point represents 921,000 homes. The share is the percentage of the televisions on at the time. Despite the low rating, Sunday's game was seen by about 108.5 million people, making it the ninth most-watched TV show ever in the United States behind eight Super Bowls and the final episode of "MASH." The higher viewership was made possible by the annual increase in the number of homes with television. "Given the expected blowout, the numbers are completely understandable and we're happy to have a 39," said Susan Kerr, director of programming for CBS Sports. "It's still a remarkable rating for prime time." The 49ers won by the biggest margin in Super Bowl history. Only the 1969 and 1968 Super Bowls had lower ratings; Green Bay's 33-14 victory over Oakland in 1968 got a 36.8. The first Super Bowl was in 1967. The highest-rated Super Bowl was in 1982, when the 49ers' 26-21 victory over Cincinnati got a 49.1 on CBS. Last year's San Francisco-Cincinnati Super Bowl, won by the 49ers 20-16, got a 43.5 rating and was seen in 39.3 million homes, according to Nielsen estimates. This year's game was seen in about 35.9 million homes. Viewership of the 5 p.m. game this year peaked at a 41.6 rating and a 69 share from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., dropping off as it became clear that Denver would not rally. The pregame show got a 39.0 rating and a 63 share and the postgame show got a 22.5 rating and a 35 share. The musical "Annie," which was on ABC opposite the game, got a 9.4 rating. "Life Goes On" on NBC got a 6.0 rating and "Love With a Twist" on NBC a 7.6. 
 President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met Tuesday with East German Premier Hans Modrow and appeared to be more open toward eventual German reunification. Modrow told reporters after the meeting that Gorbachev "did not rule out such a prospect in the future, and at the same time did not venture to set some time limits for that." Earlier, the Kremlin chief said any such decisions must include the four Allied powers and take into account European opinions. "The development of events in the world, in East Germany, in the Soviet Union demand deep consideration and an analytical approach to deciding this problem," he said in remarks reported by the official news agency Tass. "Time itself is acting on this process, giving it dynamism," Gorbachev said. "We have to act responsibly and not decide this important question on the streets." Tass said Gorbachev emphasized that talks about restructuring relations between the two Germanys must involve "all directly interested governments." Asked by an East German correspondent about his attitude toward reunification, Gorbachev said the question was not unexpected and that "no one can cast doubt" on the reasonableness of asking it. However, the English-language Tass translation indicated Gorbachev could have meant there were no doubts about reunification itself. Gorbachev's position was similar to that adopted by Communists in East Berlin on Tuesday. For the first time, the Communists acknowledged German unity as a long-term goal but said it must be imbedded in the process of overcoming Europe's overall divisions. The Soviet Union traditionally has strongly opposed any talk of German reunification, but Gorbachev has softened that position in adopting a policy that has allowed radical reform in Eastern Europe. Soviets say the question of German reunification is to be decided in the future. Gorbachev, in comments to reporters after meeting French President Francois Mitterrand in Kiev in December, reiterated his view that the existence of two German states is a fact based on the outcome of World War II. But he added, "The present situation is the result of specific historical events, a specific historical process on this continent. So, history should decide the future of this continent." "I don't think it is a topical question today. A different approach may create a situation that would complicate the entire European process, including the relations between the two German states," Gorbachev said. Modrow said the two Germanys could work toward confederation in phases with no time limit. He said he agreed with Gorbachev that reunification must be decided not only by East and West Germany, but all of Europe. According to Tass, the Soviet leader said any action on reunification must not infringe on the interests of either East or West Germany, the four Allied powers: France, Britain, the United States or the Soviet Union, or anyone else in Europe. Count Otto Lambsdorff, head of West Germany's Free Democratic Party, a partner in the governing coalition, said Tuesday in London that Gorbachev has adopted "a more positive attitude" toward German reunification. In a TV interview on Britain's Channel 4, he also urged "economic union" within 18 months as a prelude to full union of West and East Germany. Lambsdorff said that because of East Germany's political instability it had only two choices _ unification or chaos. Modrow invited Gorbachev and Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov to visit East Germany and they accepted, Tass reported. Modrow arrived in Moscow late Monday. A Communist, he has moved forward the country's first free elections from May to March 18 and brought the opposition into a coalition that will govern until then. 
 West German officials and media today praised Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev for softening his view on German reunification and said it could give hope to disheartened East Germans. Disgraced former Communist Party leader Erich Honecker was released from prison Tuesday night after justice officials determined he was too frail to withstand the rigors of imprisonment while awaiting trial on treason charges. Gorbachev said Tuesday in Moscow that he believed one Germany was likely in the future, but he added that Germans "should not decide this important question on the streets." He referred to the growing number of demonstrations in East Germany in support of reunification. Gorbachev's statement was his most tolerant yet on the subject of a single Germany, which has been opposed by Communists for more than 40 years. East German Communists on Tuesday endorsed for reunification for the first time. In West Germany, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher told West German Radio that Gorbachev had "correctly analyzed" the situation and again shown his political skill. West German officials and media praised Gorbachev's view as "realistic" and described it as an important sign of hope for East Germans who have lost faith in their government. Communist leaders launched their uphill campaign for March 18 parliamentary elections with a news conference to unveil their "European concept" that aims for a united and demilitarized Europe. Party ideologist Peter Brie said the Communists support "the togetherness of the German nation," and urged a thoughtful and measured approach to reunification. In an interview with the West German Bild newspaper, party leader Gregor Gysi complained that the reunification drive is moving too quickly. Asked if the Communists oppose reunification, Gysi told the newspaper: "No, not at all. This process cannot be stopped any more. But it is irresponsible to do things in such a way now as if it were possible tomorrow." The reunification issue promises to dominate the election campaign that will seat a new leadership in less than seven weeks. Increasing numbers of East Germans have demonstrated for union with wealthy and prosperous West Germany as their own economy tumbles and an exodus of skilled workers continues unchecked. More than 340,000 people fled East Germany last year, having lost hope that their spartan living conditions would improve. The devastating flight has included as many as 2,500 people daily since Jan. 1. The Communists are widely distrusted because of corruption scandals that have surfaced since the peaceful pro-democracy revolt last fall, and because they carry the blame for leading East Germany into its current economic and political crises. The man most blamed for the country's problems, Honecker, was set free after an East Berlin court rejected a request that he be kept in prison until his trial in March. He was jailed Monday. The court decided that "despite the severity of the charges against Honecker, the state of the accused's health does not permit imprisonment," the official ADN news agency reported. A spokesman for Chief Prosecutor Hans-Juergen Joseph promised that the investigation against Honecker would proceed. ADN said the court acted on advice from two doctors who examined Honecker independently. Honecker, 77, underwent surgery on Jan. 8 to remove a malignant kidney tumor. Honecker was ousted from the leadership on Oct. 18, after massive pro-democracy demonstrations. He was expelled from the Communist Party in December and has since been accused of treason and abusing his power. 
 Thousands of queue-hardened Soviets on Wednesday cheerfully lined up to get a taste of "gamburgers," "chizburgers" and "Filay-o-feesh" sandwiches as McDonald's opened in the land of Lenin for the first time. The world's largest version of the landmark American fast-food chain rang up 30,000 meals on 27 cash registers, breaking the opening-day record for McDonald's worldwide, officials said. The Soviets, bundled in fur coats and hats, seemed unfazed, lining up before dawn outside the 700-seat restaurant, the first of 20 planned across the Soviet Union. The crush of customers was so intense the company stayed open until midnight, two hours later than planned. "I only waited an hour and I think they served thousands before me," said a happy middle-aged woman who works at an aluminum plant. "And it was only 10 rubles for all this," she said. "I'm taking it back for the girls at the factory to try." Big Macs were priced at 3.75 rubles and double cheeseburgers at 3 rubles _ about two hours' pay for a starting McDonald's staffer or the average Soviet, but much cheaper than other private restaurants that have sprung up recently. The official exchange rate is $1.59 per ruble but foreign visitors can buy rubles for 16 cents each, about what the currency is worth on the black market. Half the day's sales were donated to the Soviet Children's Fund, which provides medical care and assistance to orphans and disadvantaged children, Gary Reinblatt, senior vice president of McDonald's Canada, said from Toronto. The restaurant, built by the company in a joint venture with the city of Moscow that began 14 years ago, brought to 52 the number of countries where McDonald's operates. The previous opening-day record for sales was in Budapest, company officials said. Besides its restaurants in the United States, the leading number of McDonald's are in Canada and Japan, the officials said. Soviets got a first-hand look at such alien concepts as efficiency and fast, friendly service. Normally dour citizens broke into grins as they caught the infectious cheerful mood from youthful Soviet staffers hired for their ability to smile and work hard. Accordions played folk songs and women in traditional costumes danced with cartoon characters, including Mickey Mouse and Baba Yaga, a witch of Russian fairy tales. One Muscovite, accustomed to clerks who snarl if they say anything at all, asked for a straw and was startled when a smiling young Soviet woman found him one and popped it straight into his drink. For most customers, it was their first experience with a hamburger. Sandwiches were served in the familiar bag marked with the golden arches, but were packed in wrappers bearing Cyrillic letters, approximating "gamburger." They tried them one-handed. They picked their sandwiches apart to examine the contents. One young woman finally squashed her "Beeg Mak" to fit her lips around it. "It tasted great!" a 14-year-old boy said. "It's a lot different from a stolovaya," he continued with a smile, referring to the much cheaper but run-down dirty cafeterias that slop rice and fat or boiled sausage. Under the sign of the golden arches, accented by the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag, hundreds lined up for the long-awaited grand opening at 10 a.m. on Pushkin Square, reaching out excitedly for McDonald's flags and pins as the hamburger chain's army fulfilled the Soviet penchant for souvenirs with Western logos. Publicity-conscious managers had the staff shout "Good morning, America!" in English and Russian, for an American TV network. McDonald's of Canada Chairman George Cohon, the man behind the deal, said many people were buying multiple orders and the restaurant served 15,000 to 20,000 people in just the first five hours of operation. The restaurant limited purchases to 10 Big Macs per customer in hopes of preventing burger-scalping. McDonald's built its own factory, including bakery, dairy, meat-processing plant and even potato storage yard, to provide its own guaranteed supplies in a country where up to 25 percent of the harvest rots en route to the consumer. One McDonald's associate said the company wound up importing wooden crates from Finland for storing potatoes because "when they went to build crates, they found there was no wood, and no nails. They found you need a permit to buy nails." 
 Moslem militants armed with automatic rifles shot and killed two unarmed paramilitary soldiers on Thursday in Srinagar, the flashpoint of a violent separatist campaign, officials said. Witnesses said a cigarette vendor also was killed in the attack, which occurred outside the vendor's kiosk in the Chanpora suburb of the city. A bystander was injured, said the witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The deaths brought to 81 the number of people killed since Jan. 20 in clashes between security forces and Moslem militants fighting for secession of the Moslem-dominated Kashmir region from Hindu-majority India. Most victims have been protesters shot while defying a curfew imposed Jan. 20 when government forces launched a crackdown. A senior police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said militants exploded bombs in a government building and a government-run bank in Srinagar's outskirts Thursday, causing severe damage. There were no casualties. The official also blamed militants for a fire that broke out in a downtown shopping center. No casualties were reported in the blaze. Security was strengthened across Srinagar after the incidents. New roadblocks were set up and more paramilitary troops were deployed on the streets, the official said. Some soldiers patrolled in trucks while others perched with machine guns on the sides of roads. A curfew that was to have begun at 6 p.m. instead took effect in the afternoon in three areas of the city after the shootings. The two paramilitary Border Security Force officers were shot with Chinese-designed AK-47 rifles from close range as they walked from their camp toward the cigarette kiosk, 100 yards from the camp's gate, said Ashok Patel, inspector-general of the Border Security Force. He said the men were unarmed and were not in uniform when attacked. It was the first reported slaying by Moslem militants of paramilitary troops. The Border Security Force, known to be a more disciplined and tougher force that the state constabulary, is normally deployed on international borders but has been increasingly used to put down the Kashmir secessionist movement. State police began preparations to counter violence Friday, the Moslem sabbath. On past sabbath days, speeches have been broadcast from mosques urging people to fight for Kashmir's independence. Gov. Jagmohan, known to be a tough administrator who ordered the Jan. 20 crackdown, on Thursday appealed for peace in Kashmir, the Himalayan valley once popular for its gardens, lakes and apple orchards. "Let us impress once again on our young brothers to see the futility of the cult of guns and understand the magnitude of all-round misery that it has caused," he said in a letter released by the state government. Jagmohan, a Hindu who uses only one name, wrote the letter to the father of a Moslem youth who was killed in a bomb explosion in a shopping complex on Wednesday. Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan after the two countries were partitioned on gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Srinagar and the surrounding areas of the valley became part of Jammu-Kashmir state, India's only predominantly Moslem state. Sixty-four percent of the state's 5 million people are Moslems, but nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's population of 880 million. Kashmiri militants had earlier campaigned for union with Pakistan, which claims Kashmir because of its predominant Moslem population, but now they demand independence and the status of a neutral country. 
 About 20,000 East Germans, many carrying West German flags, demonstrated Saturday for speedy German reunification, the official East German news agency ADN said. As the demonstrators rallied in the southern city of Plauen, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said in Moscow that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had given him an unequivocal promise to respect German reunification. Kohl declared it a "very good day for Germany." Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher also disclosed that they expect a reunification plan with agreement of the World War II Allies to be ready before the end of the year for presentation to a pan-European summit meeting. Calls for German reunification have increased since the ouster of the hard-line Communist leadership and the opening of East Germany's borders during the fall pro-democracy movement. Despite reforms, nearly 2,000 East Germans, most of them skilled workers, continue to leave their homeland daily, crippling an economy already troubled by strikes and absenteeism. Earlier Saturday, West German Finance Minister Theo Waigel said the East German economy was in a "sorrowful state" and urged the East German government to release details on its financial situation. Waigel's comments came after a day after a high-ranking official in Bonn warned that East Germany is rapidly approaching insolvency. "Things are escalating," Waigel said in an interview with West Berlin radio. "The economy is in a sorrowful state. The political authority is crumbling." He said the Bonn government believes East Germany's foreign debt stands at $18 billion. "If the situation has changed, the East German government must say so," said Waigel, a conservative who has been pushing for establishment of a common currency for the two states. Also Saturday, more than 100 East Germans protested in front of the Soviet Embassy in East Berlin against the stationing of Soviet helicopters in their country, ADN said. ADN said the demonstrators held signs saying "Gorbi, what about disarmament?" and "Tanks out, helicopters in?" The protesters, from the East German town of Prenzlau, claimed the Soviets had backed out of disarmament plans by replacing a tank unit that had been stationed at a military base there with helicopters, ADN reported. According to ADN, the demonstrators, who came from church and citizens' groups as well as from the town council, issued a statement calling for civilian use of the base. Prenzlau, a town of 22,000, is located about 50 miles north of Berlin. 
 Pakistani troops fired on Indian security forces who stopped a mob of Pakistani protesters from storming across the border into disputed Kashmir, officials said today. At least three demonstrators were killed Sunday night, a Defense Ministry spokesman said in Islamabad. Pakistan's state-run TV said the Indian guards killed as many as six. The trouble started after Indian border guards opened fire on hundreds of Pakistanis who tried to cross a cease-fire line separating Pakistan-controlled Kashmir from the Indian-held region. A spokesman for the Indian Defense Ministry said Pakistani troops then fired about 200 rounds from light and medium weapons at Indian border posts in the Uri sector. Indian forces returned fire and the exchange continued for about half an hour, the spokesman said. No one was hurt. A Pakistani official in Islamabad denied the accusations. "Pakistani military authorities and the Foreign Secretary are in touch with Indian authorities to remove the misunderstanding," said Additional Foreign Secretary Khalid Mahmood in Islamabad. Pakistan's top diplomat in New Delhi, Bashir Babar, was summoned to India's Foreign Ministry on Sunday and today and apprised of India's concern over the events, an Indian government spokesman said. A fluid 840-mile cease-fire line separates the Indian and Pakistani Kashmirs. Pakistan and Indian twice have gone to war over Kashmir, in 1948 and again in 1965. On Feb. 5, at least one person was killed and 12 wounded when Pakistani mobs tried to cross the cease-fire line near Jammu, 95 miles to the south. The two demonstrations at the cease-fire line were to express support for Moslem militants who are fighting for independence for the Moslem-dominated state from the predominantly Hindu India. On Sunday, the Pakistani mob retreated when soldiers of India's paramilitary border security force opened fire, said the Indian spokesman who refused to be identified. "The mob returned a second time by which time it had become slightly dark," he said. "That is when the Pakistani troops opened fire." A Pakistani spokesman, who also refused to be identified, said Pakistani army patrols repulsed a mob of some 1,200 demonstrators. Small groups broke away from the crowd and slipped into the Indian-held territory, he said. An official of the Indian border security force, which normally patrols the border, said the Indian army today took control of the cease-fire line. Some men in the intruding crowd were armed with guns which they fired occasionally, he said. "It was becoming very difficult, our troops had to open fire," he said. Farouk Haider, vice-president of the militant Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front that is leading the uprising, said in Islamabad after the Indian firing that "the situation is very confusing." Thirty-one people were wounded in the shooting, Haider said. Five were in critical condition in a hospital in Muzzafarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, he said, adding he knew of only one death. The 40-year-old conflict over Kashmir flared Jan. 20 after a government crackdown and the arrest of 250 suspected militants. Most of them were subsequently released, but the arrests sparked widespread violence. At least 85 people have been killed since the crackdown began. Most of the victims have been curfew-breaking protesters shot by security forces in Srinagar. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir, has been the center of the secessionist movement that has turned violent in recent years. The Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front had earlier campaigned for union with Islamic Pakistan but has in recent years demanded independence and the status of a neutral country. About 64 percent of Jammu-Kashmir's 6 million people are Moslems, making it the only Moslem majority state in predominantly Hindu India's 25 states. Nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's 880 million population. Hindus comprise 82 percent. 
 The chairman of the Simon Wisenthal Center has asked to meet with the leaders of West and East Germany to discuss "the great fear that German reunification brings to the community of victims of Nazism." "I must tell you I am not among those in the cheering section applauding the rush towards German reunification," Rabbi Marvin Hier wrote Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany and Prime Minister Hans Modrow of East Germany. "However, if that is the inevitable course, let us at least place on record our concerns," he said. Hier is the founder of the center, headquartered in Los Angeles, which seeks to keep alive the memory of the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany and Nazi-conquered lands. In nearly identical letters, he asked to meet with Kohl during his forthcoming trip to Washington and with Modrow in Germany next month. The letters were made available Wednsday to The Associated Press. "You are undoubtedly aware," he wrote both leaders, "of the great fear that German reunification brings to the community of victims of Nazism." "It is not an irrational fear of the kind that one explains away as the nightmares of victims who remain locked into their past and lose all perspective of present reality. "The fears are real because those who bear the scars of the last `unified Germany' do not see their concerns being addressed in the current reunification discussions betwen world leaders." Hier listed 10 points he wanted to raise. Among them were a program to teach German schoolchildren about the annhilation of the Jews; the creation of an agency to monitor and prosecute hate groups; the continuation of the "special relationship" now existing between West Germany and Israel; the convening of a 1992 conference of world leaders on the 50th anniversary of the conference at which "the final solution" was developed; the establisment of a German commission to protect Holocaust sites; the banning of terrorist organizations that "have enjoyed respectablity in East Germany;" a cultural exchange program between German and Jewish organizations; German television and radio programs on the reconciliation; restitution payments to the families and victims of Nazism, and a German commitment to revitalize former synagogues in East German territory. 
 Historians say the world need not fear that German jackboots will echo again on European pavements, but some still see the rush toward German reunification as a setback _ a step away from the integration of Europe. For the most part, the historians say an East Germany collapsing into chaos represents a greater threat to stability than a united German state. "The West Germans are moving ahead not out of nationalistic fervor, but a perceived need to deal with a crisis," said Henry Ashby Turner of Yale, author of "The Two Germanies Since 1945." "There is no such a thing as indelible national character," Turner said. "I don't think there is any chance that the young men of Germany are going to slip out of their Adidas running shoes and pull on jackboots and start running around saying, `Heil!" He was one of several experts in German history discussing the implications of reunification following the decision Tuesday by the four World War II allies _ the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union _ to accept the reunification of a Germany they divided 45 years ago. University of Chicago historian Michael Geyer, a native of Germany, said he feared the creation of a "strong, sovereign nation in the center of Europe" could reverse a more important development _ the 40-year drive toward an integrated Europe in which industries, banks, trade unions and even government ministries have been collaborating across borders. "The East German state is collapsing," said Geyer. "So something has to happen very dramatically. But they have a choice _ the Europeans and Germans and Americans. Do they want to opt for the European card or for the German card? I think they are opting for the German card." "I hear these days very little about what Gorbachev called `the house of Europe,"' he said. The result of a dominant "uncomfortably strong" German state, Geyer added, could be a setback to the diminishment of national borders. It could also mean, he said, that American troops might have to stay in Europe as a counterweight to Germany. "If I had my druthers reunifications would have happened after 1992, after the integration of the West German economy into the economy of Western Europe," said Charles J. Herber of George Washington University, expressing similar concern. "Then there would have been fewer chances for German adventurers," he said. West Germans were aware of their European neighbors' misgivings, said Richard Breitman of American University, and so they presented reunification within the context of European integration. They wanted to avoid arousing fear of a united Germany again dominating Europe. "Even if the history did not exist, there would be fears of that kind," he said. "We're dealing not just with rational calculation but a whole host of emotional memories." For all that, Breitman said, "One Germany is not only inevitable, but given the successful record of West Germany over the last 40 years, my feeling is it is better than having a regime in chaos." "The only alternative to reunification," added Turner, is an East Germany in ruins, "a basket case, a Bangladesh of Europe." He said Germans have "no significant interest in territorial revisions. Those misgivings are misplaced." Gerhard Weinberg of the University of North Carolina, considered a leading historian of the Nazi era, cautioned that reunification, if mishandled, could prove explosive. While the people of West Europe have gotten over nationalistic distrusts, East Europeans, living in closed societies, have not, he said, and fear of Germany is a reality in East Europe and Russia, he said. "I don't think the Germans are heading for Moscow again, but we have to give people _ and the Germans have to give people _ time to think this through and get used to it. ... Mishandled, reunification could scare one or the other of the participants into starting something and scare others and goodness knows where it would end." Gordon Craig, emeritus professor at Stanford, said the division of Germany has been the basis of a peace settlement "which worked pretty well" but was "abnormal and sooner or later had to be corrected." German reunification, said Craig, gives the world the chance to build a new international system, one that "will prevent the use of international violence." He added, "We have to be careful that we don't fall back into the kind of system that existed before the Second World War, a Europe filled with nations that were suffering various grievances, rivalries, disputed frontiers, driven by what they considered to be legitimate reasons but pitted against each other _ the sort of things that gave rise to Hitler in 1933." 
 Spike Lee may have been wearing a Georgetown University cap and sweatshirt, but he got a far warmer reception from Syracuse University students than he did from Academy Award voters. In a lecture and question-and-answer session Monday, Lee shrugged off the academy's icy treatment of his latest movie, "Do the Right Thing," and blamed it on generational politics. The 1989 film, widely hailed by critics, received only two Academy Award nominations, and isn't being considered for best picture or best director. The academy's membership consists mainly of "old people," the 32-year-old Lee said. He said they were "a lot more comfortable with the black chauffeur in `Driving Miss Daisy"' than with the angry characters in his film. "I still feel we made the best film of the year," he said. Asked if racism might have been involved in the academy nominations, Lee replied, "Racism's involved in everything." Despite the cap and sweatshirt, Syracuse students welcomed him as one of their own. "He's an African-American, one of the first ones to make it (as a producer and director), and he's addressing the issues and concerns affecting our community," Syracuse senior Deron Harris said. "That's why we're so proud of him." 
 Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire for several hours today after a Pakistani soldier became the first military casualty on the troubled Kashmir border, officers and a western observer said. The soldier was shot in the leg Sunday at a ceasefire line, several miles from the village of Chaukothi, officials said on condition of anonymity. They said there were no reports of casualties from today's firefight at the line, which divides Kashmir between Pakistan and India. The nations have twice gone to war over the Himalayan state, in 1948 and again in 1965. The former princely state was divided between the two nations after British colonial rule ended in 1947. Relations between the neighbors have become increasingly strained since Jan. 20 when Indian troops launched a military crackdown on Moslem separatists in turbulent Jammu-Kashmir. The militants want India's only majority Moslem state to either become independent or join Pakistan. Jammu-Kashmir is an aberration in India, where 82 percent of the country's 880 million people are Hindus. The leaders of both countries have tried to soothe tempers in the dispute and have said another war over the region is unlikely. However, Pakistani forces have now sealed off the border area at Chaukothi, forbidding civilians from entering the area. The border crossing was the scene of a bloody confrontation on Feb. 11 between Indian troops and Pakistani students, who were marching in solidarity with activists in Indian-held Kashmir. Indian troops killed three students and wounded several during that confrontation, a Pakistan defence ministry spokesman said. The two armies also exchanged gunfire for about 30 minutes before calm was restored. A Paksitan army captain, who said he witnessed the firefight, said unlike the occasional shootings in the past, Indian soldiers appeared to be aiming at Pakistani troops. The western observer said Sunday's shooting of the Pakistan soldier appeared to back up that assertion. In another sign of increased tensions, Pakistani and Indian officers are no longer accompanying United Nations' military observers as they pass through the borders. "It is not a normal situation," the officer said. "The border is extremely tense." Pakistan officials said they were taking steps to quell what one official called "war fever" on the Pakistan side. "We are trying to tie the people down," said Amir Alan Khan, a retired lieutenant colonel who heads Kashmir's civil defence. He said hundreds of retired soldiers have approached him "to ask for orders" to fight the Indian army. 
 Tens of thousands of people chanting "Freedom! Freedom!" trekked to a Moslem saint's shrine Saturday to campaign for the secession of Kashmir from India, witnesses and pro-separatist activists said. At least three people died in two separate incidents on Saturday in Kashmir, the center of the four-decade-old separatist campaign, witnesses said. The deaths brought to 109 the number of people killed since Jan. 20 in the latest round of the secessionist violence and the government crackdown. Meanwhile, the president of the Pakistan state of Kashmir said in an interview Saturday that Kashmiris there had begun smuggling arms across the border to Moslem insurgents fighting for independence from India. President Abdul Qayyum, speaking to a reporter who traveled to Pakistan's Kashmir, said the people of his state also had been sheltering insurgents since India launched the military crackdown in its state of Jammu-Kashmir last month. In India's Kashmir, the 600-year-old shrine of Shiekh Nuruddin Wali at Charift Sharief, 20 miles northwest of Srinagar, became a sea of humanity as Moslem men, women and children poured in from Srinagar and nearby towns. Vehicles stopped 10 miles from the shrine as people thronged the roads, said witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Supporters of the militants said they went to the shrine to seek the saint's blessings to "liberate" Kashmir from India. In Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, residents were told by Moslem militants to put their clocks back by 30 minutes to correspond with the Pakistan standard time. The militants, led by the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, are demanding either independence for Jammu-Kashmir, the only Indian state dominated by Moslems. Groups of young Moslem men sat at street corners, stopping passers-by and telling them to adjust their watches. At least six fights broke out when people refused to comply, said witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Friday, at least 200,000 people marched to the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group in Srinagar, demanding a plebiscite in Kashmir, police said. Witnesses claimed that more than 600,000 people took part. The U.N. group is posted to maintain a cease-fire line drawn between Indian- and Pakistani-held Kashmir after a 1948-49 war over the region. Residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces fatally shot two men shouting anti-Indian slogans at Khrew, 15 miles southeast of Srinagar. In Srinagar, suspected Moslem militants shot and killed Ashok Kumar, a Hindu government employee, witnesses said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. Kumar was suspected to be a police informer. India routinely accuses Pakistan of arming, training and supporting the militants. The government in Islamabad denies the charge but says the Kashmiri people have a right to self-determination. An AP reporter who traveled to Pakistan's Kashmir last week said state-run banks in the region have begun collections to help the uprising. Signs in dozens of banks called for donations for "a holy war against India." Naveed Hussain, a government spokesman in Pakistan's Kashmir, said in an interview that $5,000 had been raised in a week and that the money would be used to train Kashmiri militia groups in territory held by Pakistan. Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan after the two countries were partitioned following the end of British colonial rule in 1947. 
 Moslems blew up a truck carrying security forces Wednesday, killing three soldiers in the few hours the government relaxed a curfew designed to stop the Kashmiri separatist uprising, officials said. In separate incidents, militants shot and killed a Moslem they said was a police informer and a Moslem died after he was caught in an exchange of fire between militants and security forces, officials said. Also Wednesday, Moslem snipers fired on security forces in three parts of Srinagar during a five-hour relaxation of curfew, said Gov. Jagmohan of Jammu-Kashmir state. There were no casualties, he said. The curfew was relaxed from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. to allow people in the city of 1 million to shop for food and other essentials. An around-the-clock curfew was imposed Friday after security forces the day before shot and killed 49 Moslem demonstrators marching into Srinagar to take part in a pro-independence rally. At least 1 million Moslems demonstrated to demand independence for the predominantly Moslem state; India is predominantly Hindu. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir, is the center of the separatist movement. At least 171 people have been killed in Kashmir since a government crackdown on the separatist movement began on Jan. 20. Leading national parties decided Wednesday to send a "high-powered delegation" to Srinagar, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. It did not name the members, but it said they would go Thursday. The decision was taken at the end of a daylong multiparty meeting on Kashmir called by Prime Minister V.P. Singh. A joint statement after the meeting said "despite their ideological and political differences, (the parties) were one in defending the unity and integrity of the country," the news agency reported. Jagmohan said the truck was driving around Srinagar distributing food to troops on street corners when it was blown up by Moslem militants. He gave no further details of the attack. The attacks came amid government claims that security forces arrested at least 12 leaders of the Moslem group Hezbul Mujahedeen. Jagmohan said the militants, from Srinagar and the border towns of Baramulla and Kupwara, have been arrested since Sunday. Hezbul Mujahedeen is one of 30 militant groups fighting for secession. It is believed the second most powerful independence group after the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front. "We are going to hit hard at anti-national elements, there is no way they can get away with what they are doing," Jagmohan said. "It may take a month, six months, maybe a year, but ultimately these anti-national elments are going to be neutralized." Jagmohan, a Hindu, was appointed the state governor of Jammu-Kashmir on Jan. 18 in an attempt by the government to control the unrest. Kashmir has been a problem for more than four decades following the 1947 partition of British colonial India into predominantly Moslem Pakistan and the mostly Hindu India. Jammu-Kashmir, then a princely state, chose to merge with India. Pakistan protested, claiming the territory because of its predominantly Moslem population. The two countries have twice gone to war over the territory. The Kashmir portion of Jammu-Kashmir is mostly Moslem, while the southern Jammu segment is predominantly Hindu. Overall, about 65 percent of the state's 6 million people are Moslem. Nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's 880 million people and Hindus account for 82 percent. 
 The Berlin villa where the Nazi leadership met to implement the "final solution" against Europe's Jewish population will be the site of a World Jewish Congress conference on German reunification. The New York-based organization announced Tuesday that the meeting is scheduled for May 8, the 45th anniversary of V-E Day. "The world is expecting a Jewish statement on reunification," said Edgar Bronfman, the president of the World Jewish Congress. "I think that the place where they decided on the `final solution' is the right place to have such a meeting, and the anniversary of the victory in Europe seems to be the right day." Some 100 members of the World Jewish Congress from about 70 countries will attend the conference at the villa in Wannsee, Berlin, where on Jan. 20, 1942, high German government and party officials adopted a plan to exterminate the Jews. "Jews have a right to state a moral position on German reunification and we will make a moral statement. And part of that moral statement is to see that it (the Holocaust) doesn't happen again," Bronfman said. In the long run, he said, a united Germany can be "a very positive thing" for Europe, but certain precautions must be taken to prevent a repeat of history. For example, Germany's borders "must be sealed in cement," and the country should not be allowed nuclear weapons, he said. Bronfman said he does not fear a resurgence of anti-Semitism once the two Germanys are united. In fact, he said, reunification might cause a decline in anti-Jewish feelings. "Now that reunification is about to be a fact, they won't be blaming the Jews" for a divided Germany, Bronfman explained. The conference will convene May 6 and a formal declaration on German reunification will be issued May 8. It will be the first meeting ever held on German soil by the World Jewish Congress, which was founded in 1936 in response to Hitler's threats against Jews. 
 A drug that eases the heart's workload can cut the risk of new cardiac attacks and death by 20 percent in people recovering from heart attacks, according to a major study released Thursday. The study, conducted in Denmark, found that the drug Verapamil, known as a calcium channel blocker, was effective for the 1{ years after a heart attack. Calcium blockers are among several classes of medicines commonly prescribed to relieve high blood pressure. "This is the first trial that indicates that a calcium blocker may be beneficial after an acute myocardial infarction," or heart attack, said Dr. Carl J. Pepine of the University of Florida. Several other studies of calcium blockers, including one large U.S. study published last year, failed to find any benefit from using the medicines after heart attacks. According to the Danish study, Verapamil is about as effective as another variety of blood pressure medicines known as beta blockers at protecting people after heart attacks. While calcium blockers may not replace beta blockers after heart attacks, the researchers said these drugs still should have a role in treatment. "We feel it is important to have alternatives. Many patients do not tolerate beta blockers," said Dr. Kresten Mellemgaard of Central County Hospital in Hillerod, Denmark, a co-author of the study. Beta blockers are generally not recommended for people with asthma and emphysema. This means the drugs often cannot be given to cigarette smokers, who are frequent victims of heart attacks. In the study, conducted at 20 community hospitals, doctors compared 897 patients who got Verapamil after heart attacks with 878 people who took placebos. After 18 months of followup, there were 146 deaths or recurring heart attacks among the Verapamil patients, compared with 180 in people who got the dummy medication. "We wanted to see if an effect would be observed with Verapamil," said Dr. Forgen Fischer Hansen of Copenhagen Municipal Hospital. "If it had an effect, it should be seen in the first 12 to 18 months, because there is a big increase in mortality in myocardial infarction in this period," he said. "Then it levels off. That's what we demonstrated. It worked." The researchers believe that by reducing the amount of work needed by the heart to sustain circulation, calcium blockers lowered the chances of ischemia, episodes in which the heart's own muscle is deprived of oxygen. They said they were unsure why earlier studies failed to show any benefit from calcium blockers after heart attacks. However, they noted that some studies enrolled patients who were also taking beta blockers. And this might have obscured any benefits from calcium blockers. The results were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Among other research described at the meeting: _Dr. James H. Chesebro of the Mayo Clinic said a five-year study found that aspirin does not stop the continued buildup of existing blockages in the arteries feeding the heart, although it may modestly protect against the development of new deposits. However, like other studies, this one found that aspirin signficantly cut the risk of heart attacks. _Dr. Eugene Braunwald of Harvard Medical School said the next phase of a large study of clot-dissolving drugs will see what effect they have in unstable angina. This is a condition in which people suffer spontaneous chest pain that is not triggered by work or stress. Until now, the drugs have been used only to treat heart attacks. 
 Moslem militants killed five people who opposed their fight for independence from predominantly Hindu India and kidnapped a former legislator, officials said Saturday. At least 195 people, mostly Moslem demonstrators, have been killed in the northern state of Jammu-Kashmir since Jan. 20 when the government launched a crackdown on the separatists. State officials said four of the five people killed Friday and Saturday were Moslems. They were identified as a deputy police superintendent; the 73-year-old local leader of the Communist Party of India; the grandson of another prominent Communist leader; and a man accused of being a police informer. The fifth victim was a civilian, the sources added, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was unclear if he was Hindu or Moslem. The former state legislator, Mir Mustafa, was pulled out of his car at gunpoint Saturday near his home in Badgam, 12 miles west of Srinagar, officials said. Srinagar has been a focal point of the fighting between government troops and separatists. Family members and highly placed sources in the government of Jammu-Kashmir said no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction and no demands were issued. Mustafa was an independent member of the state legislature. The governing body was dissolved in January when the federal crackdown was ordered. In December, Mustafa helped negotiate a prisoner exchange in which the kidnapped daughter of Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Saeed was swapped for five prominent members of the radical Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front. The front is one of several Moslem militant groups waging a campaign of bombings and assassinations to press demands for the independence of Kashmir, a part of Jammu-Kashmir state. Jammu-Kashmir is the only Moslem-majority state in India. The secession movement has been simmering since 1947, when the state of Kashmir was divided between India and Moslem Pakistan. The eastern part of the state is governed by India. The western slice of Kashmir is under Pakistan's control. The two countries went to war twice over Kashmir, and their armies still face each other along the disputed frontier. 
 The late Jesse Owens, whose performance at the 1936 Olympics put the lie to Hitler's boasts of racial superiority, picked up a fifth gold medal Wednesday for "humanitarian contributions in the race of life." President Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to his widow, Ruth Owens, in a ceremony at the White House also attended by three daughters and teammates of the track legend. This Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of Owens' death at age 66. The president later hailed Owens's multiple gold medals in the Berlin games "a victory for humanity" in prepared remarks to a banquet sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee. "The Olympics, like democracy, are a kind of dialogue _ a way that nations can converse in the language of friendly competition, not deadly conflict," Bush said. Bush called Owens, who was black, an "Olympic hero and an American hero every day of his life ... born with the gift of burning speed." "He was always the fastest," said Bush, recalling the afternoon in May 1935 when the Ohio State runner broke three world records and tied a fourth in the space of 45 minutes. "Talk about a guy in a hurry," Bush laughed. "He was the epitome of that." At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Owens captured four gold medals _ in the broad jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 400-meter relay. "The Berlin Games were to be the showcase of Hitler's theories on the superiority of the master race until this 23-year-old kid" showed up, Bush said. "It was an unrivaled athletic triumph. But more than that, it really was a triumph for all humanity." Bush, borrowing a phrase from Ruth Owens, said it was not those athletic feats but "his humanitarian contributions in the race of life" that earned Owens the Congressional Gold Medal. Owens devoted himself to working with youth and serving as "a special ambassador for sports," said Bush. He said the athlete's legacy lives on through the Jesse Owens Games, a playground Olympics; the Jesse Owens International Trophy for amateur athletes and the Jesse Owens Foundation, which awards scholarships to needy youth. "Despite the many honors, his greatest satisfaction came from his work with youth," said Mrs. Owens, 74. Attending the ceremony along with Owens' family were former Olympians Mal Whitfield, Harrison Dillard and Herb Douglass; former teammates John Chavers, Samuel Devine and Chester Thomas, and two Ohio Democrats, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum and Rep. Louis Stokes, who spearheaded the drive to strike the medal. The silver-haired Mrs. Owens, standing outside the White House afterwards, called the event "absolutely beautiful." She added: "I'm sure with the sun shining straight down, Jesse's watching us, too." 
 A leader of the Moslem separatist movement in Kashmir tried to hurl a grenade into a police bunker Friday but was killed in a volley of police gunfire. Tens of thousands of Moslems gathered later for the funeral. Comrades fired into the air and vowed to carry on the fight for independence from India. Ashfaq Majid Wani, 28, was a leader of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, a leading separatist group. He was the front's area commander in Srinagar. Police said he tried to throw the grenade at a police bunker in downtown Srinagar while riding by on a motor scooter. The grenade went off after officers opened fire with automatic weapons. Three other people died in the melee, the police said. Hours later, thousands of residents gathered near Wani's house in an attempt to hold a funeral procession in defiance of a government curfew. But soldiers and police prevented the procession and took Wani's body to a burial ground in a government ambulance escorted by a police jeep. Women wailed and beat their chest as Wani's body was taken out of the ambulance and placed near the grave. Men shouted: "Ashfaq's blood will usher independence!" A group militants fired pistols and automatic rifles in the air. Witnesses estimated the crowd at 40,000. The firing continued intermittently for more than one hour until the body wa interred at 5 p.m. "We will carry forward Asfaq's mission, which was to gain independence," said one militant leader holding a Soviet-designed Kalashnikov rifle. He refused to give his name. The secessionist movement has been alternately simmering and flaring since 1948, when the Hindu ruler of the old princely state of Kashmir, faced with the option of merging either with India or Islamic Pakistan, chose India. The two countries then were one year old, having been partitioned from the British colonial India. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir. They left the region split into the Pakistan-held territory called Azad Kashmir, or free Kashmir, and the Indian-controlled Jammu-Kashmir state. Jammu-Kashmir is the only state in India that is dominated by Moslems. Most of India's 880 million people are Hindu. At least 233 people have been killed in Kashmir since Jan. 20 when the government launched a crackdown on increasing violence by Moslem separatists. Official sources said Indian soldiers shot and killed 10 Moslem separatists Friday who were trying to slip into Pakistani-held territory of Kashmir. They said the men were in a group 22 that opened fire on the soldiers. The 12 surviving militants were arrested, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Also Friday, police fatally shot a curfew violated in Srinagar. The body of a suspected police informer was found in Srinagar, and officials said militants claimed responsibility. 
 Moslem extremists abducted a leading businessman and an educator Friday and threatened to kill them, a day after authorities killed six militants crossing into Pakistan for arms and training, police said. Roads were blocked around Srinagar, where the hostages were seized, and soldiers tightened security around the Kashmir Valley, where the government launched a crackdown Jan. 20 on the Moslem separatist movement. A telephone caller told a local reporter the abductors were also holding a third hostage and all three men would be killed within 24 hours of a Monday afternoon deadline for releasing three jailed militants. The caller claimed to speak for the Students Liberation Front, a branch of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front fighting for autonomy in the predominantly Moslem state. India itself is overwhelmingly Hindu. Police sources, who demanded anonymity, and the telephone caller both identified the new kidnap victims as Vice Chancellor Mushir ul-Haq of Kashmir University and L.M. Khela, general manager of Hindustan Machine Tools Co. The caller said ul-Haq's private secretary also was being held hostage, but that could not be confirmed. Moslem separatists had warned Indian government officials to leave Jammu-Kashmir state before April or "face the consequences." Police said the border violence took place in Kupwara district, where at least 20 separatists tried to sneak into neighboring Pakistan to receive military training and buy weapons. No details were available. India says Pakistan trains and arms the militants in Kashmir, at the far northern tip of India. Pakistan denies it. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the region since 1947, when both nations won independence from Britain. 
 The resignation of the land reform secretary raises doubts about President Corazon Aquino's commitment to agrarian reform and dramatizes conflicts in a government criticized for lack of vision. The controversy climaxed Thursday with the resignation of Secretary-designate Florencio Abad, 35, whose nomination was opposed by the pro-Aquino Struggle of the Democratic Filipino Party. Handling of the controversy highlighted all the inconsistencies for which Mrs. Aquino has been criticized: lack of clear priorities; tactical blundering; and the strong influence of her relatives over national policy. It also reinforced the suspicion among liberals that for all her rhetoric, Mrs. Aquino does not share the deep commitment to social change which they expected when she took power in the 1986 "people power" uprising against the late Ferdinand Marcos. "The sincerity of Corazon Aquino is being seriously questioned," wrote columnist Ninez Cacho-Olivares in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Land reform, "the centerpiece program of her administration, is dead." Abad's troubles began in February when he tried unsuccessfully to block the lease of government land in Cavite province to Japan's Marubeni Corp., for an industrial park. Although the deal was approved by the National Development Corp., Abad, a former congressman, said the land should be distributed to peasants under the agrarian reform program. The Department of Trade and Industry said the Marubeni deal was crucial to attracting much-needed foreign investment for the government's industrialization program. But the Department of Agrarian Reform said if the Cavite land was exempted, hundreds of landlords would try to have their property declared as a potential industrial site to avoid losing title. The presidential staff finally worked out a compromise under which farmers would be offered either land or a cash settlement. Abad reluctantly agreed to the formula under repeated orders from Mrs. Aquino. Abad's firm stand, however, alarmed landowners in Congress, who floated rumors in the press that the Agrarian Reform Department was riddled with Communists. Lawmakers on the Commission on Appointments who belong to the pro-Aquino Struggle of the Democratic Filipino Party blocked Abad's confirmation through eight hearings until he finally resigned. Despite the party's "victory," poltical damage to it and Mrs. Aquino was considerable. The Manila press transformed Abad into a folk hero, depicting him as the champion of the farmer against political barons of the Struggle of the Democratic Filipino Party, dubbed "Landlord-Dominated Party." "Worry not about Abad's destiny, Mrs. President," wrote columnist Carol Arguillas in The Manila Chronicle. "Worry about yours and how you blew the last chance" for liberal support. Mrs. Aquino pledged publicly to work for Abad's confirmation, but her lobbying appeared ineffectual. Abad's strongest opponents included politicians who consistently support Mrs. Aquino, leading to speculation she was not disappointed when he departed. Abad's opponents included her younger brother, Rep. Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, who wields considerable influence in government. "There is no way Cory Aquino will challenge Peping," said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mrs. Aquino comes from a landlord family. She and her brothers and sisters are partners in a 14,500-acre sugar plantation in Tarlac province. Rather than break up the estate, they used a legal option and created a "profit-sharing" plan for the tenants. The Abad controversy was the latest in a series of blows to the agrarian reform program, once touted as the "centerpiece" of the administration. Last year, Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip Juico resigned after disclosures that his department paid vastly inflated sums for marginal land. His successor, Miriam Defensor Santiago, was repeatedly rejected by the Commission on Appointments, only to be reappointed until Mrs. Aquino replaced her with Abad on Dec. 31. No reason for the change was given. But Mrs. Santiago claims she did not display sufficient public loyalty to Mrs. Aquino during a coup attempt in early December. Agrarian reform was widely seen as a means for breaking the power of landlord families and uplifting the livelihood of millions of peasants. The program was advertised as essential in curbing the 21-year-old rural-based Marxist insurgency. Mrs. Aquino proclaimed a land reform program in 1987 but left details to Congress. The final bill contained so many pro-landlord loopholes that several of its original sponsors, including Abad, voted against it. Robert H. Reid has been the AP bureau chief in Manila since September 1986. 
 President Bush is expected to name a female career diplomat as U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua as that country prepares for a new era under President-elect Violeta Chamorro, according to informed sources. The sources said Thursday it is virtually certain the appointment will go to Melissa Wells, 57, currently ambassador to Mozambique. They said the administration believed a female ambassador could relate better than a man to Mrs. Chamorro, who takes office Wednesday. They also said the administration is eager to have more women in key posts. Only rarely have U.S. ambassadorships in Latin America gone to women. In choosing Ms. Wells, the administration passed over several male career diplomats with long experience in that region, said the sources, who asked not to be identified. Ms. Wells, who was born in Estonia, has no prior experience in Latin America. Her personnel record indicates she speaks Spanish. Wells' name was submitted to the White House by Secretary of State James A. Baker III for the Managua post, and approval is considered "99.9 percent certain," one source said. The United States and Nicaragua have not had ambassadors in each other's capitals since July 1988. The Sandinista government expelled then-U.S. ambassador Richard Melton and seven other U.S. diplomats on the grounds they were interfering in Nicaragua's internal affairs. The Reagan administration retaliated by expelling Nicaraguan Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann and seven of his subordinates from the Nicaraguan embassy here. But a new era in U.S.-Nicaraguan relations is expected to open with the inauguration of Mrs. Chamorro, who defeated President Daniel Ortega in elections this February. Vice President Dan Quayle and a large congressional delegation are expected to represent Bush at her inaugural. The administration has asked Congress for $300 million in assistance to Nicaragua, part of which would be used for resettling Contra rebels. But the request has been stalled by Senate Democrats, some of whom believe that Eastern Europe has a greater claim on U.S. resources than Nicaragua. Wells' nomination as ambassador to Mozambique in 1986 encountered strong opposition from Senate conservatives who held up the appointment for 11 months in protest against U.S. policy toward that country. The nomination finally was approved in September 1987. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., a leader of the campaign to hold up Wells' nomination, said he wanted to pressure the administration into dealing with rightist guerrillas opposed to Mozambique's Marxist government. Mozambique has since moderated its policies and is now off the U.S. government's list of countries under Marxist rule. 
 Two weeks after a failed launch attempt, an improved Discovery is ready to embark on one of the most momentous shuttle missions, hoisting the Hubble Space Telescope high enough to behold the threshold of time. The countdown began Saturday afternoon for a launch set for 8:31 a.m. EDT Tuesday. If the launch goes on schedule and all else goes well, the first picture from Hubble could be available next weekend. "We are as excited, maybe even more. You can cut it with a knife, incredible," said Eric Chaisson, senior scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Nothing, at least scientifically, seems to have been lost as a result of the two-week wait, one of numerous delays plaguing the mission since its original 1983 launch date. As Chaisson remarked last week: "The universe has been around for 15 billion years. A couple of weeks is not going to matter." "The heavens look the same to me. The secrets are the same," Chaisson said. "There's not a bit of difference," agreed Charles Pellerin Jr., NASA's director of astrophysics. "I think the main point is the Hubble Space Telescope still is in perfect condition." The $1.5 billion telescope, the most expensive unmanned spacecraft ever built, rests safely inside Discovery's payload bay awaiting the Tuesday launch. If all goes well, Discovery will return to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Sunday, April 29, with an empty payload bay. NASA said it may release its first telescope image from Hubble _ of an open star cluster in the constellation Carina _ as early as that same day. After the early test images are made and other preparatory work is done, Hubble is expected to start providing significant scientific data by satellite in a month or two. The observatory is considered the greatest advance in astronomy since Galileo first used a telescope in 1609. It also is considered by many at NASA to be the most important shuttle mission to date; it will be the 35th. The telescope is named for the late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who discovered during the 1920s the universe constantly is expanding. His work gave rise to the theory the universe was created by a tremendous explosion about 15 billion years ago. From its perch far above Earth's obstructing atmosphere, the telescope will be able to discern objects 50 times fainter and with 10 times greater clarity than the best ground-based observatory. Astronomers are counting on Hubble to unravel some of the mystery surrounding quasars, pulsars and black holes. By studying stars and galaxies so distant their light has been traveling to Earth for 14 billion years, they hope to determine the precise origin of the universe and learn whether other solar systems _ and life forms _ exist. "If everything goes well, it's going to knock our socks off," Chaisson said. NASA's sole attempt to launch Discovery was halted four minutes before liftoff April 10 when one of the shuttle's three auxiliary power units failed. The 88-pound unit was replaced with a new one, the first time NASA ever had installed such a unit at the launch pad. The procedure went so smoothly the space agency decided last week to advance the launch to Tuesday, a day earlier than planned. Hubble's six nickel-hydrogen batteries were returned to the telescope Friday following 130 hours of recharging. The batteries will power Hubble from the time it is disconnected from Discovery's power system until its energy-collecting solar panels are deployed 380 miles above Earth, the highest a shuttle has ever gone. Astronaut Steven A. Hawley will use the shuttle's mechanical arm to lift the 24,250-pound telescope into space on the second day of the mission. The telescope's aperture door will be opened on the next to allow the first starlight to strike the mirror. Mission specialists Bruce McCandless II and Kathryn Sullivan, veteran spacewalkers, will leave the cabin to assist if necessary. The shuttle will follow Hubble from 40 miles away in case a problem develops and the telescope must be retrieved and returned to Earth. "You can never eliminate those oddball quirks of fate or gremlins that may sneak up on any given day," Sullivan said. "But those are very remote potentials I really suspect we won't encounter." In addition to the $1.5 billion cost of the telescope, $500 million has been spent to stockpile spare parts, train astronauts and develop computer software to operate the instrument. The European Space Agency contributed $250 million to the Hubble project and will get to use the telescope 15 percent of the time. 
 Discovery's five astronauts returned Sunday for a second attempt to launch the shuttle with NASA's most valuable and celebrated payload, the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope. Discovery is scheduled to lift off at 8:31 a.m. EDT Tuesday. "We feel very confident that things are going to go well this time," said Discovery's commander, Air Force Col. Loren J. Shriver. "We're going to come out OK on Tuesday morning and, if not, we'll just keep trying until we do. That's kind of the name of the game here," Shriver said. NASA test director Mike Leinbach said Sunday that the countdown was proceeding smoothly and the shuttle appeared to be in perfect condition. The countdown got under way Saturday afternoon. A faulty power unit forced the first launch attempt to be scrubbed four minutes before liftoff April 10. The unit was replaced with a new one, which tests showed to be fine. "Hopefully, we'll get the shuttle off the pad this time," Leinbach said. A 70 percent chance of favorable weather was expected at launch time, with low clouds being the main concern, said the Air Force's Ed Priselac, shuttle weather officer. A weak cold front from the north was expected to pass through the area by Monday night. The outlook is considerably better for Wednesday and Thursday, Priselac said. As Discovery's astronauts arrived from Johnson Space Center in Houston early Sunday afternoon, the shuttle Columbia was being transported to a launch pad 1.6 miles from Discovery. It is only the second time both shuttle launch pads at Kennedy Space Center have been occupied simultaneously. The first time was in January 1986; 16 days after Columbia lifted off, Challenger exploded. Columbia commander Vance Brand said he does not believe the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is moving too fast with his shuttle. NASA expects to launch Columbia with an astronomical observatory called Astro no earlier than May 16, one week later than planned because of Discovery's two-week delay. "In some cases, it could be a problem" having shuttles on both launch pads, Brand said. "In this particular case, everything's fitting together." NASA has until Saturday to get Discovery off the ground. After that, all launch attempts must be halted for eight days so Hubble's batteries can be recharged. The six nickel-hydrogen batteries will power Hubble from the time it is disconnected from Discovery's electrical system until its two energy-collecting solar panels take over in space. Discovery's payload bay was sealed late Saturday night, drastically reducing the risk of contamination to the telescope's finely polished 94.5-inch mirror. Discovery will aim for an altitude of 380 miles, the highest a shuttle has ever gone, so the telescope can be placed in its proper orbit far above Earth's distorting atmosphere. During Hubble's 15-year journey through space, astronomers expect to look back to nearly the beginning of time and solve some of the universe's most perplexing mysteries. Astro will measure ultraviolet radiation undetected by Hubble and thus provide additional targets for the telescope. The $100 million observatory also will focus during Columbia's nine-day mission on Comet Austin, believed to be on its first trip through the solar system. Both Hubble and Astro were scheduled for launch in 1986, but were delayed by the Challenger accident. 
 Five astronauts boarded Discovery today for a second try at sending the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit to scan the outermost reaches of the universe for clues to the beginning of time. "Astronomers are starting to tingle again in anticipation of what the Hubble will be able to accomplish," said Lennard Fisk, head of NASA science activities. Air Force forecasters said there was a 90 percent chance the weather would be favorable for launching the shuttle at the scheduled time of 8:31 a.m. EDT. More than a half million gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen were pumped into the space ship's fuel tanks after midnight. The astronauts, wearing bright orange flight suits, climbed into the crew cabin just as dawn was breaking over the Kennedy Space Center. The $1.5 billion telescope, NASA's costliest cargo, will give astronomers "a new set of eyes and ears that we don't have," said William Lenoir, head of NASA's space flight program. "It's going to change our perspective altogether. I can't say what we're going to learn, but I'll be astounded if we don't learn many new things." Discovery was aiming for an altitude of 380 miles, the highest a shuttle has ever gone, so the telescope can be placed in its proper orbit far above Earth's distorting atmosphere. It is the 35th shuttle mission. Columbia, which journeys into space next month with the Astro observatory, sat on a launch pad 1.6 miles from Discovery, only the second time both pads have been occupied; the first was in 1986 just before the Challenger explosion. Hubble has been waiting to take its place in space since 1983, delayed by technical problems and the Challenger accident. The latest postponement occurred April 10, when Discovery's launch was scrubbed four minutes before liftoff because of a faulty power unit on the shuttle. The mood at the Kennedy Space Center was considerably less festive than during the first launch attempt, when hundreds of astronomers gathered with their families. The day after launch, mission specialist Steven A. Hawley will use the shuttle's mechanical arm to lift the 24,250-pound telescope into space. Veteran spacewalkers Bruce McCandless II and Kathryn Sullivan will assist if a problem develops. Discovery will follow Hubble from 40 miles away for two days until after its lens cap is opened, exposing the finely polished 94.5-inch mirror to starlight. Hubble is not expected to start providing scientific data by satellite for a month or more after liftoff. However, NASA said it will release its first image _ an open star cluster in the constellation Carina _ a week after launch. In addition to the $1.5 billion cost of Hubble, $500 million has been spent on spare parts, astronaut training and computer software to operate the instrument. The European Space Agency contributed $250 million for 15 percent of the viewing time. NASA estimates it will cost $200 million a year to operate and maintain the telescope in space. During its 15-year working lifetime, the telescope will provide astronomers with 10 times better resolution and 25 times more sensitivity than ground-based observatories. As a result, they will be able to study stars and galaxies so distant their light has been traveling toward Earth for 14 billion years. Astronomers hope to learn whether the universe was created 15 billion years ago as believed and uncover some of the mystery surrounding galaxies, black holes and quasars. Hubble also is expected to shed light on how and when the universe might end. The telescope is named for the late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who discovered during the 1920s that the universe is expanding. His work gave rise to the Big Bang theory that the universe was created by a tremendous explosion. In addition to Hubble, Discovery carries a human skull filled with sensors to measure the space radiation that astronauts receive. It is the skull's third trip into space. The shuttle is to end its five-day mission with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. 
 Jubilant astronomers saw decades of work take wing Tuesday as the Hubble Space Telescope was boosted high above Earth to launch "a great adventure for mankind." Charles Robert O'Dell, a Rice University space physicist who has worked 19 years on Hubble, said seeing it hurled into orbit aboard the shuttle capped an experience that was "comparable to raising a child. I've been with the program since it was a concept. "There is nothing better than to see 19 years of my work and five of my friends thrust into orbit," he said. Colin Norman, a physics and astronomy professor at Johns Hopkins University and academic affairs director of the Space Telescope Science Institute there, called the launch "the perfect start to a great adventure for mankind. "It was incredibly beautiful. The power of the launch was awesome and the telescope has an awesome power," Norman said. Discovery's liftoff was especially gratifying since it ended seven years of delays. The $1.5 billion telescope originally was scheduled for launch in 1983 but remained grounded by technical problems and the Challenger explosion. Two weeks ago when hundreds of scientists crowded into the Kennedy Space Center, the launch was scrubbed four minutes before liftoff. Only a few dozen of them returned Tuesday, but they were just as excited. "There were times when we were deeply depressed. There were times when we were elated" about Hubble's progress, said William H. Jeffreys, a University of Texas astronomer and Hubble's astrometry project leader. Jeffreys said. "This is one of those times when we are thrilled beyond belief." Ed Weiler, NASA program scientist for Hubble, said watching the liftoff was "a double whammy" because "it was my first shuttle launch and the launch of the HST. It really gets to you." 
 Seven years late, the Hubble Space Telescope is where it belongs, out of this world and in search of others so distant that they may have been formed at the beginning of time. Less than five hours after it rode into space aboard the shuttle Discovery on Tuesday, the $1.5 billion telescope sent its first test radio signal. At the sign of life, applause and cheers erupted in Mission Control in Houston. "As near as we can tell, everything looks perfect," said astronaut Steve Hawley from the shuttle. Hawley's job on Wednesday will be to drop the telescope overboard for a 15-year stay in space. Discovery, trailing an arc of white smoke into a brilliant blue sky, carried the silver-colored telescope to an orbit 380 miles above Earth _ higher by 70 miles than any previous shuttle. There the Hubble will stay to search for yet-unseen wonders of creation with instruments that can look 14 billion years backward in time. "Our window on the universe!" NASA launch commentator George Diller exulted as the Discovery rose off its seaside launch pad. "It's a beautiful day to have Hubble Space Telescope in orbit instead of here on Earth like it's been for so many years," said NASA administrator Richard Truly. "Hubble's in its element and I'm delighted." The telescope was supposed to be launched in 1983, but technical problems and the Challenger accident delayed its deployment. It suffered a further delay two weeks ago when the countdown was stopped at the four-minutes-to-go point because of a faulty hydraulic unit on the shuttle. While it remained on Earth, the telescope cost $7 million a month to exercise and keep in readiness. In its first day in space, that checkout and testing continued remotely under control of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. On hand to watch the Discovery launching was a contingent of scientists who have hailed the Hubble as the greatest advance in astronomy since Galileo raised a small telescope to his eyes nearly 400 years ago. Truly referred to the early-day astronomer when he was asked about the long delays in getting the telescope to its working station. "Somebody the other day said, `Who remembers the day that Galileo picked up his telescope to look at the stars?"' said Truly, a former shuttle astronaut. "It doesn't matter what day we launch Hubble, it matters that we do it right." The telescope is 43 feet long and 14 feet in diameter, about the size of a railroad tank car. When it flies free, it will receive electrical power for its six scientific instruments from two wing-like solar arrays that extend outward on each side. It is named after the late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who theorized that the universe was expanding and that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is traveling. That gave support to the theory that a massive explosion _ the Big Bang _ created the universe 10 to 20 billion years ago. The Hubble is expected to help provide the answer to two major questions: How old is the universe? How big is it? The telescope has two mirrors, one 94.5 inches in diameter, the other 12 inches. Two of the instruments are cameras, two are spectrometers and one is a photometer. In addition, the fine pointing system acts as a sixth instrument by providing precise measurement of distances. On Wednesday, Hawley is to grapple the 12{-ton telescope with the shuttle's mechanical arm, lift it out of the cargo bay, point it, and _ after a long checkout _ drop it overboard to orbit on its own. In the cargo bay, the telescope receives electrical power from the shuttle. But the juice is cut when the instrument is lifted out and it will depend on internal batteries until the solar panels are extended to receive light from the sun. Should the solar panels not deploy, mission specialists Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan will be standing by, partially dressed in space suits, ready to go into the open cargo bay to unfurl the arrays manually. Discovery's launch was not without its problems. With 31 seconds left in the countdown, the computer that runs the final moments before liftoff refused to close a fuel valve and stopped the launch process. The problem was overcome and the shuttle lifted off at 8:34 a.m. EDT, about three minutes late. The shuttle is scheduled to land Sunday at 9:49 a.m. EDT at Edwards Air Force Base in California. "On the way uphill," as Commander Loren J. Shriver put it, the shuttle's windshield was splattered with "several flecks of things." He said the windshield was streaked by the debris and that it also was smeared when the spent booster rockets fell off during the climb to orbit. The astronauts also had problems with their UHF radio circuit, and one of the ship's small rear thrusters was inoperative. Neither problem was considered serious. 
 Already they're saying it's the biggest happening in astronomy since Galileo put his eye to a telescope. So, step right up folks, and discover the wonders of the universe. See how big it is. Learn its age. Look at light created 14 billion years ago and arriving at your eye only this instant. Ride along to the beginning of everything, almost, to the Big Bang of 10 or 20 thousand million years ago. See stars born and see them die. Watch galaxies form. Follow the flow of gas into the Milky Way's halo. Peer deep into the universe, past so many stars in our own galaxy that it would take a person more than a lifetime to count, to a hundred billion other galaxies each with about 200 billion stars. For scientists, and then the rest of us, all that becomes possible now that the space shuttle Discovery has carried the Hubble Space Telescope into the sky to see what no one has seen before. The telescope, a silvery tube as long as a tanker truck, has an unmatched ability to detect and capture the faintest light. Light, speeding along at 186,000 miles a second, is the messenger of creation. Tracking the trail of light from today to the first moments contains all the information we will ever have about the creation of the universe. The Hubble promises to give science an open window perhaps to the first echoes of creation. This is a world-class event, even if astronomy is not your thing. Superlatives? "In the history of optical astronomy there have been two great leaps in the resolution of the universe: Galileo's telescope in the autumn of 1609, and the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990." _ Eric J. Chaisson, a senior scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. One more? "No one ever made anything that good," James Westphal, California Institute of Technology. Another? Dr. Lennard Fisk, NASA's chief scientist, predicts that the Hubble telescope "will literally be the dawn of a new era in astronomy." Eras rarely can be proclaimed in advance. But the HST, named after Edwin Powell Hubble, holds that kind of promise. Hubble was an astronomer in the first half of the century who concluded not only that distant galaxies are moving away from Earth but that the farther away they are, the faster they move. The theory of an expanding universe supported the belief that the universe originated in a cosmic explosion and that all matter is still rushing from the site of that so-called Big Bang. Astronomers think the Big Bang occurred 12 billion to 20 billion years ago and sent the entire universe flying out at incredible speed and heat. Eventually matter cooled and condensed into galaxies, stars and planets. There are bigger telescopes than the Hubble, but they are all on Earth and all subject to a major limitation _ the atmosphere _ which is fine for breathing but lousy for seeing through. The problem of skywatching through layers of air has been likened to birdwatching from the bottom of a swimming pool. The Voyager spacecraft, which sent back astonishing views of Earth's sister planets, had to travel 12 years to get close enough for pictures as they whizzed past. With the Hubble, says scientist Edward Weiler, such pictures are possible any time we want. The telescope is 42.5 by 14 feet and consists of a 94.5-inch primary mirror that gathers incoming light. "On a clear, dark night you can see a flashlight from two miles away," says Weiler, chief NASA scientist on the Hubble project. "With a 28-power telescope you can see it on the moon 250,000 miles away. With the HST you could see a firefly in Australia from Washington." 
 Discovery's astronauts overcame balky equipment to send the Hubble Space Telescope floating free from the shuttle today on a 15-year quest for secrets of the universe. The $1.5 billion telescope began orbiting Earth every 97.3 minutes at an altitude of 380 miles _ high above the atmosphere, which has limited the view of ground-based telecopes. "Discovery, go for Hubble release," Mission Control told the crew at 3:37 p.m. EDT. The event occurred a minute later as the shuttle slowly and carefully backed away. The final hours before its release were a nightmare for ground controllers as they commanded the unfurling of two solar panels that power the telescope's instruments. The starboard panel balked twice as it was being pulled from its reel. Mission Control ordered space-walking astronauts to be ready to go out of the cabin to help. But there was a third try and it was successful. "We have confirmation that the solar array wing on the starboard side has been deployed," the telescope control center in Maryland said. "So we have good news," said Dave Drachlis, of the Hubble control center. The deployment of the two 39-foot panels allowed sun power to flow into the telescope's batteries, relieving worries that they would use up their eight-hour charge. Before astronaut Steve Hawley was able to lift the 12{-ton telescope from the cargo bay with the shuttle's mechanical arm, its instruments had to be disconnected from the shuttle's power and shifted over to the batteries. "Precisely one day after lifting off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, the Hubble Space Telescope is ready to fly on its own," Mission Control's Jeffrey Carr said. "The game has begun. The race is on. The clock is ticking." Astronauts Kathryn Sullivan and Bruce McCandless put on spacesuits and entered an airlock in order to be ready to walk outside and pull out the array had mechanical deployment of the solar panels failed. Cameras aboard Discovery showed the telescope, being held at the end of a 50-foot crane, reflecting sunlight from its silver surface and a turning Earth in the background. Earlier this morning, Discovery commander Loren J. Shriver maneuvered the shuttle into its deployment position, with its nose pointed toward the sun. That was to put the telescope's solar arrays, once unfurled, at the proper angle to quickly start collecting energy and protect the telescope's fixed star trackers while the instrument was being held above the payload bay. Discovery is in orbit 380 miles above Earth, 70 miles higher than any previous shuttle. The orbit was dictated by the need to put the telescope above the Earth's distorting atmosphere. "For those technically inclined this morning, I'd like to pass on the quote of the day from the on-board astronomer (Hawley), something to the effect that the big marble sure looks far away today," Shriver said. The five astronauts' busy day began on a musical note early this morning as Mission Control played a song called "Space is Our World," written by members of Discovery's training team and a Houston-area group, Private Numbers. Controllers monitoring the telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland said Tuesday that no problems had been detected so far aboard Hubble, the most expensive and complex unmanned spacecraft ever built. "Everything has just being going like clockwork," said Ron Schlagheck, shift director of orbital verifications at Goddard. "Everybody is in excellent spirits." The Hubble telescope, delayed by technical problems and the 1986 Challenger accident, has waited seven years to take its place in space. It finally got a ride into orbit Tuesday morning aboard Discovery. Hubble will allow astronomers to study stars and galaxies so distant their light has taken 14 billion years to reach Earth. It is expected to provide clues to the age and size of the universe, and it may solve the mysteries of quasars, pulsars and black holes and even find stars with planets that could conceivably support life. The 24,250-pound telescope is 43 feet long and 14 feet in diameter, about the size of a railroad tank car. When it is in orbit, it will receive electrical power for its six scientific instruments from two winglike solar arrays. It is named for the late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, whose discovery during the 1920s that the universe is expanding gave rise to the Big Bang theory that the universe was created by a tremendous explosion 10 billion to 20 billion years ago. 
 After years of delay and a last-minute snag, the Hubble Space Telescope was freed from the shuttle Discovery on Wednesday and, glinting in the sunlight, drifted into orbit on its 15-year search for new worlds. Mission specialist Steven Hawley released Hubble from the end of the shuttle's 50-foot-long mechanical arm after a delay in getting one of the telescope's solar wings unfurled. "The first of NASA's great observatories is now on station at 330 nautical miles above the Earth," Mission Control's Jeffrey Carr said. "The telescope really looked great as we flew away from it, and we sure hope it does good work," Discovery commander Loren J. Shriver said later. The $1.5 billion telescope was released at 3:38 p.m. EDT as the shuttle entered its 20th orbit of Earth, nearly two hours and one orbit later than planned. The shuttle then backed away. "Thank you very much for the ride," said Mike Harrington, director of orbital verifications at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Mission specialists Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan had been in the shuttle's airlock, ready to walk inspace to free the solar panel. That proved to be unnecessary. "Close but no cigar, but better for the Hubble that it went the way it did," Sullivan said. She and McCandless had trained for nearly five years to make such a rescue mission. The first solar array unreeled from its mast at midday Wednesday as the shuttle passed 380 statute miles, or 330 nautical miles, above South America's eastern coast. It started providing power to the telescope's batteries, which otherwise had only eight hours of charge. Deployment of the starboard panel, however, was more troublesome. It wouldn't budge when latches were first released, then moved about a fifth of its 39-foot length, and stopped again. A third attempt rolled the panel out all the way. "Houston, we see motion," Commander Loren J. Shriver reported. Hawley began the long process of releasing Hubble shortly after 7 a.m. EDT when he grasped it with Discovery's 50-foot-long mechanical arm and carefully hoisted the 12{-ton telescope high above the shuttle. Hubble was taken off shuttle electrical power just before it was lifted out of the cargo bay and was operating on its own nickel-hydrogen batteries. "At one day, seven minutes into the flight of Discovery, Hubble is now on its own internal power," Carr said. "The game has begun. The race is on. The clock is ticking." Worries that the telescope's instruments would be starved for electricity eased after the first solar panel was stretched out. Television cameras aboard Discovery showed the first array as it was pulled from its reel slowly but steadily, the sun reflecting off the gold-colored panel and silvery telescope. Discovery was 380 statute miles above Earth, 70 miles higher than any shuttle has ever flown. The orbit was dictated by the need to put the telescope above the Earth's distorting atmosphere. Discovery's five astronauts were awed by the view. "I'd like to pass on the quote of the day from the on-board astronomer something to the effect that the big marble sure looks far away today," Shriver said of Hawley. Astronomers have waited seven years for Hubble to take its place in space. The telescope originally was scheduled for launch in 1983, but technical problems and the Challenger explosion pushed it back. The mission was delayed another two weeks when a faulty power unit on Discovery forced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to halt the first launch attempt four minutes before April 10's scheduled liftoff. On Tuesday, Discovery finally blasted into space, transporting Hubble out of this world and in search of others. The telescope's 10-foot aperture door is to be opened Friday, exposing the finely polished 94.5-inch mirror to starlight. Discovery was following Hubble in case the door does not open properly. If a problem develops, McCandless and Sullivan will be prepared once again to walk in space. Fred Wojtalik, Hubble project manager, said the telescope would be tested Thursday for its ability to maneuever before the aperture door is opened. "We want to be in full control so we don't ever endanger the Hubble by putting the aperture door close to the sunlight," he said. The telescope cannot focus into the sun because of the sensitivity of its five instruments. If all goes well, the crew will land Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. NASA expects to release its first image from the telescope _ of an open star cluster in the constellation Carina _ on Tuesday. Data will follow in a month or two. Astronomers hope to look back to almost the beginning of the time, studying stars and galaxies so distant their light has been traveling to Earth for 14 billion years. They expect to determine precisely how and when the universe was formed, currently estimated at 15 billion years ago. The telescope is named for the late American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who discovered during the 1920s that the universe was expanding. He also was responsible for helping to form the Big Bang theory of creation. 
 Ground controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center finally made contact today with the two main antennas on the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope after trying for more than six hours to lock on. Applause erupted in the Hubble control center in Greenbelt, Md., as the glitch that marred Hubble's first full day in space was solved. "We have confirmation that we have achieved communication with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite through the high-gain antenna system," said NASA's Dave Drachlis. Engineers had said all along they believed the antennas were working all right and that the problem was in incorrectly pointing either the satellite or the TDRS, an orbiting communications satellite that acts as a switchboard. In the successful attempt, they nearly doubled the width of the antennas' beams to take in more territory, from a sweep of 6.2 degrees to 10.8 degrees. The telescope's low-gain antennas, which receive and transmit information at a much slower rate and can be used in emergencies, were working well. Space shuttle Discovery was 46 miles away, available to remedy certain problems. The outage was not a problem for which space walkers would have been summoned. The five astronauts were otherwise busy making pictures of storms over Texas from their 380-mile-high perch, and doing experiments. Steve Terry, director of a team calibrating various aspects of the telescope, said the first outage was caused by human error and was not a serious problem. It began between 1 and 1:30 a.m. EDT and lasted 45 minutes to an hour, he said. The second failure occurred at 6:44 a.m. when controllers attempted to send a signal to the telescope's two high-gain antennas through the TDRS. "This time it was a pointing problem," said Jim Elliott, a Goddard spokesman. "It's a new spacecraft and we think inexperience dealing with it was the cause." The telescope, embarking on a 15-year search for new worlds, was released from the shuttle's cargo bay Wednesday after a last-minute snag that almost sent two astronauts on an emergency spacewalk. Mission Control awakened the crew early today with a loud rendition of the song "Shout," a fraternity house favorite. "Good morning, Discovery. I guess you're awake after that song," said Kathy Thornton, shuttle communicator. "There are a lot of happy people down here. We saw a great deploy yesterday and Hubble had a good night while you were asleep." "We appreciate the good words from everybody," replied Discovery Commander Loren Shriver. After Wednesday's deployment, Shriver gently backed Discovery away from the telescope and put the shuttle through a series of maneuvers, the last one completed this morning, to "park" Discovery in orbit 46 miles behind Hubble. "The telescope really looked great as we flew away from it, and we sure hope it does good work," Shriver said Wednesday. "Well, it sure is now, Loren, and thanks for all the great work you've done," replied Mission Control. "Galileo is real proud of you." Scientists have hailed the Hubble _ NASA's most expensive unmanned spacecraft _ as the greatest advance in astronomy since Galileo raised a small telescope to his eyes nearly 400 years ago. Discovery and its five astronauts will follow the telescope while controllers at the Goddard center make sure Hubble is operating properly, such as responding to directional commands. The next milestone is Friday, when the telescope's 10-foot aperture door is to be opened, exposing the finely polished 94.5-inch mirror to starlight. Then on Tuesday, NASA expects to release the first image from the telescope: an open star cluster in the constellation Carina. Data will follow in a month or two. If the aperture door doesn't open properly, Discovery could return to the telescope so two astronauts could perform a spacewalk to fix it. Hubble project manager Fred Wojtalik said the telescope would be tested today for its ability to maneuver before the aperture door is opened. "We want to be in full control so we don't ever endanger the Hubble by putting the aperture door close to the sunlight," he said. Too much light could damage the telescope's sensitive instruments. On Wednesday, mission specialist Steve Hawley used the shuttle's 50-foot robot arm to gently grasp the 12{-ton telescope and hoist it from the cargo bay. One of the telescope's solar arrays unreeled from its mast as expected and started providing power to the telescope's batteries, which otherwise had only eight hours of charge. But there was trouble with the second panel. It wouldn't budge when the latches were released, and then moved about a fifth of its 39-foot length and stopped again. The panel rolled all the way out on the third attempt. By the final attempt, astronauts Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan were in their space suits in the airlock, 30 minutes away from taking tools in hand and going on an outer-space maintenance call. Wojtalik said the cause of the problem is unknown. The 8{-hour procedure was performed 380 miles above Earth, 70 miles higher than any shuttle has ever flown. The orbit was dictated by the need to put Hubble above the Earth's distorting atmosphere. Astronomers hope to use the telescope to look back to almost the beginning of the time, studying stars and galaxies so distant their light has taken 14 billions years to reach Earth. They hope to determine how and when the universe was formed, currently estimated at 15 billion years ago. The telescope originally was scheduled for launch in 1983 but was delayed by technical problems and the Challenger accident. Discovery, which blasted into orbit Tuesday, is scheduled to land Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. 
 Ground controllers cheered after re-establishing contact Thursday with the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope through its main antennas. An attempt six hours earlier had failed. "I'm pretty relieved, I must say," said Al Boggess, Hubble project scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Applause erupted at Goddard's Space Telescope Operations Control Center when the high-speed contact was made Thursday afternoon. Controllers sent information to the telescope about its location, and "this basically improved the telescope's knowledge where it was, what its position was," said Goddard's Dave Drachlis. They also widened the radio beam to cover a larger area around the two high-speed dish antennas. "We have confirmation that we have achieved communication with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite through the high-gain antenna system," Drachlis reported. The antennas are the primary communications links for relaying scientific information to the ground. Controllers' lack of experience with the new satellite was part of the problem, Boggess said. "This probably won't be the last time we have a problem," he said. "We'll keep working at it until we have all these things that need to be done, done. We'll get them right." The problem began Thursday morning when engineers tried pointing the two high-speed antennas toward two widely-separated TDRS satellites without success. Two low-speed antennas were working fine, but Boggess said they would be "excruciatingly slow" for sending data. There had been a communications outage with the telescope earlier. It lasted only 45 minutes and was due to human error. In addition, one of four "rate gyros," wheels whose spin maintains the telescope in a stable position, was disconnected by an automatic system for a reason engineers were unable to explain immediately. But it was restored later and the stability of the satellite was unaffected. The problems won't delay the schedule for putting the telescope into use, said Jean Oliver, Hubble deputy project manager at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Now we have to do an analysis to make sure ourselves just what part of it worked and whether there are things we have to do differently in the future to make it continue to work," Boggess said. "Having done it once, we've got confidence we can do it and that means the mission can proceed." Space shuttle Discovery trailed 57 miles behind the telescope and was to stay nearby until the Hubble's aperture door was opened, set for Friday morning. Its five astronauts spent the day doing experiments and taking pictures of storms over Texas and other views of Earth from 380 miles up, the highest a shuttle has ever flown. When the door covering the telescope aperture is opened, starlight will strike the telescope's finely polished 94.5-inch mirror for the first time. If signals fail to activate the 10-foot-wide aluminum aperture door, mission specialists Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan will go into open space and crank it open Saturday. The shuttle is scheduled to land Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The mission would be extended a day if the space walk became necessary. On Tuesday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration releases its first image from the telescope, an open star cluster in the constellation Carina. Scientific data will follow in a month or two. The 12{-ton, 43-foot-long telescope, about the size of a bus, is named for astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who died in 1953. The Missouri-born Hubble discovered during the 1920s that the universe is expanding, a finding that gave rise to the theory the universe was created about 15 billion years ago by a tremendous explosion. Astronomers expect to look back 14 billion years with the space telescope. 
 The lens cover on the Hubble Space Telescope opened today after a morning of worrisome problems, and Mission Control told the Discovery astronauts they no longer are needed to rescue the $1.5 billion instrument. "You've been released from Hubble support; it's on its own," Mission Control told the astronauts when the aluminum aperture door opened. "Thank you, sir, that's great news," said Discovery Commander Loren J. Shriver. "There are handshakes and smiles all around up here," said Steve Hawley, who had been at the controls when the telescope was released into its own orbit on Wednesday. "I'll bet it's just that way down there, too." The successful opening of the lens cover paved the way for the astronauts to return to Earth on Sunday. They had blasted into space Tuesday after a two-week delay and dispatched the telescope from its payload bay Wednesday. "The Hubble is open for business," Mission Control told the astronauts. The telescope still was having problems, however. When the door opened, two of its four position-stabilizing gyroscopes stopped working and the electronic system went into an automatic "safe mode" in which all motion is stopped. The team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, which guides the telescope, said the door-opening motion jarred the telescope more than had been expected and that the system reacted properly in shutting down. By early afternoon, a step-by-step procedure was begun to bring the telescope's electronics back on line. Steve Terry, a top Hubble engineering official, said tolerances for the telescope systems had been set particularly narrow for the first operations and that was the cause of many malfunctions. In addition to the trouble this morning, there two communications outages Thursday totaling several hours. "We're cautious, and that's natural," he said. "We've got a very expensive spacecraft here and we don't want to do anything to jeopardize the usefulness. ... We'll get to the point where we know exactly what the spacecraft will do and set the limits appropriately." NASA announced that "at this time the telescope is safe, stable." The space shuttle Discovery, which carried the telescope to orbit, was 50 miles behind the telescope, ready to lend a hand if needed. Later in the day, the ship was to do an engine firing that would set it on a preliminary path for home. That path would take the Discovery two miles below the telescope. The lens cover, a 10-foot diameter "aperature door," covers the opening to the telescope's light shield. When it is closed, the telescope is blind. The lens cover had been closed _ except for a tiny wedge opening _ ever since the $1.5 billion telescope was dropped overboard by the Discovery crew on Wednesday. Now that it is opened, starlight can strike the lens for the first time and it can go about its business of photographing and analyzing the universe in ways and with sensitivity never before possible. The door is made from honeycombed aluminum sheets covered on the outside with solar-reflecting material. The inside is painted black to absorb stray light. If the door opening command had failed, the five Discovery astronauts who deployed Hubble were prepared to head back to the telescope. Mission specialists Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan would have performed a space walk to open the door Saturday if necessary. If it had been needed, the rescue would have delayed the landing, scheduled for Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., by a day. The astronauts were awakened at 2:30 a.m. EDT to the mellow sounds of the Beach Boys' song, "Kokomo." "For Max Q's keyboard, that's the way that song should really be done," Mission Control radioed to mission specialist Steve Hawley, a member of the all-astronaut band called Max Q. "Your next practice is Sunday evening in the gym, don't be late." Max Q is a NASA acronym for the point in the shuttle's ascent when the aerodynamic pressure is at its greatest point. "That sounds just like the way we do it," replied Hawley. "If you get us home by Sunday, I'll go to practice." In an orbit high enough to avoid Earth's distorting atmosphere, Hubble will allow astronomers to study stars and galaxies so distant their light has taken 14 billion years to reach Earth. It is capable of detecting objects 50 times fainter and with 10 times greater clarity than the best ground-based observatory. During its 15-year working lifetime, Hubble is expected to help determine the age and size of the universe. It may solve the mysteries of quasars, pulsars and black holes and even find stars with planets that could conceivably support life. On Tuesday, NASA plans to release its first test image from the telescope, an open star cluster in the constellation Carina. Significant data will follow in a month or two. The 12{-ton, 43-foot-long telescope, about the size of a bus, is named for astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who died in 1953. The Missouri-born Hubble discovered during the 1920s that the universe is expanding, a finding that gave rise to the theory the universe was created about 15 billion years ago by a tremendous explosion. 
 The Hubble Space Telescope orbited with its big eye open Friday after ground controllers overcame communications problems and lifted its lens cover, but its electronics were shut down due to a malfunction. Those problems, however, were not the immediate concern of shuttle Discovery's astronauts, who prepared for Sunday's return to Earth. "You've been released from Hubble support. It's on its own," Mission Control's Story Musgrave told the five crew members. "That's great news," replied Discovery commander Loren J. Shriver. "There are handshakes and smiles all around up here. I'll bet it's just that way back down there, too," added mission specialist Steven Hawley. "Who's buying tonight?" "We'll buy when you all get back," Musgrave replied. Flight director William Reeves said it was too early to cheer. `We still have an important part of the mission to go," Reeves said. "We reserve our celebration until the crew is safely on the ground." Discovery is to land at 9:48 a.m. EDT Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Landing would have been delayed a day if astronauts Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan had had to perform a space walk to crank open the telescope's lens cover, or aperture door. The shuttle trailed 50 miles behind Hubble when the aperture door opened 380 miles above Earth, but passed 3.7 miles beneath the telescope later in the day. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had planned to release its first test image from the $1.5 billion telescope on Tuesday, showing an open star cluster in the constellation Carina. But Steve Terry, director of orbital verifications, said that would be delayed by problems with Hubble's high-speed antennas. Scientific data will follow in a month or two. Hubble's 10-foot aluminum aperture door was opened to the heavens at 10:30 a.m. EDT, nearly four hours later than planned, exposing its finely polished 94.5-inch mirror to starlight for the first time. Ground controllers sent a signal commanding the door to lift even though the telescope was in an automatic "safe mode," with all motion stopped because of problems in linking its high-speed dish antennas with a relay satellite. One of the two antennas apparently had swung too far, and the telescope shut down, said Jean Oliver, a Hubble deputy project manager. If future movements of the antenna have to be limited to avoid the problem, it would have only slight impact on the telescope's observing time, Oliver said. Terry said the opening of the aperture door could not have been delayed much longer. "There has to be a point where you say they have to go their way and we have to go ours," he said of the astronauts. When the door opened, two of Hubble's four position-stabilizing gyroscopes stopped working; later, engineers got them back on line. The motion of the lens cover knocked out the gyros, said Dave Drachlis of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. That, too, kept it in the safe mode. Oliver said it would be Saturday morning before the telescope is brought out of the safe mode. It will take another day to get the instrument operating normally again, putting controllers at Goddard several days behind. "We're trying to be very deliberate and trying not to cut any corners and do anything fast because we feel there's a lot at risk here and we want to make sure we're doing it properly," Oliver said. "We've got a long future ahead of us, and we want to make sure it starts off on the right foot." NASA said the telescope was safe and in a stable position. Tolerances for the telescope systems were set particularly narrow for the first operations and that was the cause of many malfunctions, Terry said. In addition to that trouble, there were two communications outages totaling several hours. "We're cautious, and that's natural," Terry said. "We've got a very expensive spacecraft here and we don't want to do anything to jeopardize the usefulness. ... We'll get to the point where we know exactly what the spacecraft will do and set the limits appropriately." Terry said Hubble is designed with safe modes so it can be "the master of its own destiny" in case contact with an orbiting communications system is lost for extended periods. The telescope will share the system, known as Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, with other space craft. Except for a tiny wedge opening, the lens cover had been closed and the telescope blind ever since Hubble was released by the astronauts Wednesday. From its orbit high above Earth's distorting atmosphere, the telescope will enable astronomers over its 15-year working lifetime to look back 14 billion years and possibly determine the age of the universe. The universe is believed to have been created about 15 billion years ago in a cosmic explosion. The late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, for whom the telescope is named, provided the basis for the Big Bang theory of creation. He discovered during the 1920s that the universe is expanding and that the farther the galaxy is from Earth, the faster it is moving away. In honor of the astronomer, Sullivan carried with her into space an eyepiece from the 100-inch telescope at California's Mount Wilson Observatory that Hubble used to make his pioneering observations. "It's a great pleasure to have something of such historical significance and something that so directly symbolizes Edwin Hubble's fundamental contributions to astronomy," she said Friday afternoon. Once back on Earth, the eyepiece will be displayed at the observatory. 
 The shuttle that put the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit also carries an instrument used in the 1920s by astronomer Edwin Hubble: the eyepiece from what once was the world's most powerful telescope. "It's a great pleasure to have something of such historical significance and something that so directly symbolizes Edwin Hubble's fundamental contributions to astronomy," astronaut Kathy Sullivan said Friday as she circled the Earth in space shuttle Discovery. The eyepiece from the Mount Wilson Observatory's 100-inch Hooker Telescope was carried into orbit by Sullivan. After she brings the eyepiece back to Earth, it will be placed on display at the observatory. "It's basically a symbolic gesture from the past of astronomy to the future of astronomy," said Lyn McAfee, spokeswoman for the Mount Wilson Institute. The Pasadena-based group runs the observatory, located in the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles. "The discoveries made by Hubble on the 100-inch telescope at Mount Wilson gave us a giant leap forward in our understanding of the universe," McAfee said. "We believe the Hubble Space Telescope will do the same thing." The Hooker Telescope was the world's most powerful telescope from its construction in 1918 until 1948, when the 200-inch Hale Telescope was placed in operation at Mount Palomar Observatory northeast of San Diego. Using the Hooker Telescope, Hubble was the first to determine the distance to a galaxy outside the Milky Way, the institute said in a statement. "This crucial discovery provided the first definite proof that other galaxies existed far beyond the confines of our own local galaxy," the institute said. During the 1920s and 1930s, Hubble and an assistant used the Hooker telescope to take thousands of photographs of faint galaxies, showing that most of them were moving away from each other very quickly. "This provided observational evidence for the concept, suggested by Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that the universe is expanding," the institute said. Hubble's work helped convince scientists the universe was created in a giant explosion, called the "big bang," an estimated 15 billion years ago. The Hooker Telescope was mothballed in 1985 by the Carnegie Institution, former operator of the observatory, in a money-saving move. The institute hopes to obtain funds to reopen it. 
 The Hubble Space Telescope was awakened from its self-induced sleep today but it was still without the use of its high-speed antennas, and its science instruments were on hold, unable to begin any observations. "We are out of the `safe-mode' right now," said Steve Terry, a supervisor of the engineers controlling the telescope. He said the telescope was running on a "normal control-all mode," where its own computers and sensors guide where it is pointing. Discovery's astronauts, meanwhile, packed their gear for a return to Earth Sunday, made some last-minute observations of Earth and talked with ground-based reporters about their flight. Pilot Charles Bolden said he was especially upbeat about the widespread public awareness of the telescope, which is expected eventually to look back 14 billion light years _ nearly to the birth of the universe. "It's hard to go somewhere and find someone who has never heard of the Hubble Space Telescope," said Bolden. "It makes little kids' eyes light up. It makes little kids want to learn how to add and subtract and study science." The telescope's big eye has remained open, but Hubble had been in a "safe mode" with all motion stopped because of earlier problems in linking the high-speed dish antennas with a relay satellite. The antennas are the primary links for relaying scientific data to the ground. Terry said that even in the safe mode, one of the tape recorders in the telescope reads telemetry signals from all its systems and that these would be played to Earth and analyzed when the antennas are working properly. "We expect to use that data to investigate what happened," he said. Engineers are able to send commands to the telescope via its secondary antennas but the communications system is not useful for scientific data, which must be transmitted at a high rate of speed. "We're putting the scientific instruments in a hold mode, in effect a standby mode," he said. Shortly after 6 a.m. EDT, controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., completed a series of commands that took the telescope out of its safe mode and then began to run a 12-hour computer program to monitor Hubble's health. It will take another day before the $1.5 billion telescope is operating the way it was supposed to at this point in the startup process, said Hubble deputy project manager Jean Olivier. "We're backing up to a very deliberate and slow and careful approach to these problems," Olivier said Friday. "This is not the time to do anything dumb." The telescope problems have put the flight center several days behind, but the five astronauts who deployed it earlier this week were sticking to their schedule. Landing is scheduled for 9:48 a.m. EDT Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., but flight controllers were keeping a close watch on the weather. Winds were predicted to be about 20 mph with gusts up to 29 mph. Mission rules dictate that headwinds cannot exceed 29 mph at touchdown. The shuttle carries enough supplies to stay in orbit three days beyond Sunday if necessary, NASA said. Mission Control awakened the crew members at about 1:30 a.m. EDT today by playing the song, "Cosmos." "Thanks for the wake-up music, it's pretty appropriate for today," said Commander Loren Shriver. "The song was selected in honor of Hubble Space Telescope, which is now open for business," said Mission Control commentator James Hartsfield. The astronauts were to finish up their experiments and photography today and pack for the trip home. They also planned to hold a news conference from space with reporters at the Johnson Space Center. Shriver and pilot Charles Bolden were to run through a series of tests to make certain the shuttle's computers and control jets were ready for return to Earth. The crew deployed Hubble on Wednesday but they had stayed close to the telescope in case there was trouble opening the aperture door. Mission specialists Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan were prepared to perform a space walk today to crank it open in orbit 380 miles above Earth. But that proved unnecessary when the door was opened Friday morning, exposing the telescope's finely polished 94.5-inch eye to starlight for the first time. Two of Hubble's four position-stabilizing gyroscopes stopped working when the door opened, but engineers later got them back on line. The gyroscopes were knocked out by the motion and that, too, kept the telescope in the safe mode, said Dave Drachlis, director of orbital verifications at Goddard. A colleague, Steve Terry, said Hubble's systems were set at conservative limits for the first operations and that caused many malfunctions. There also were two communications outages totaling several hours. Hubble is designed with safe modes so it can be "the master of its own destiny" in case contact with an orbiting communications system is lost for extended periods, Terry said. NASA had planned to release its first test image from the telescope on Tuesday, showing an open star cluster in the constellation Carina. But Terry said that would be delayed because of the antenna problems. Scientific data will follow in a month or two. The telescope, named for the late astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, will enable astronomers over its 15-year working lifetime to look back 14 billion years and possibly determine the age of the universe. The universe is believed to have been created about 15 billion years ago in a cosmic explosion. Hubble provided the basis for the big-bang theory of creation. He discovered during the 1920s that the universe is expanding and that the farther the galaxy is from Earth, the faster it is moving away. 
 Thousands of John Lennon fans, some too young to remember the Beatles, swayed and sang along with songs including his anthem "Imagine" at a hometown tribute. "It's a great day, isn't it?" Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, asked the crowd. "I think John would be happy, too." At the close of the concert, she and son Sean, 14, wept and hugged some of the musicians, who included B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Roberta Flack, the Moody Blues, Hall and Oates, Wet Wet Wet and Randy Travis. However, the turnout was only 15,000, according to police estimates. Organizers had hoped for about 45,000. Tickets were $41 for the charity benefit concert, which featured a program of Beatles and Lennon songs. The concert was televised in Britain and was to be rebroadcast worldwide in October in a 50th birthday tribute to Lennon a decade after his death. Cyndi Lauper, in a white minidress, sang "Hey Bulldog," and Dave Edmunds, backed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, did the Beatles classic, "A Day in the Life." Soul singer Al Green was the opening act. His version of "All You Need is Love," turned into a singalong with the crowd, and Kylie Minogue did "Help." American actor Christopher Reeve was among the hosts of the concert. Ex-Beatles George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr did not attend, but McCartney and Starr made taped contributions. On tape, Starr performed "I Call Your Name" and said, "John had the biggest heart of any man I have ever met to this day. He was a giving, loving, caring human being. He was crazy as well some days _ but the guy would give you his heart." Lennon's co-songwriter, Paul McCartney, said on his tape: "Hello Liverpool, scene of many great memories, John, me and the rest of the lads." The Beatles were raised in Liverpool and got their start in the Merseyside bars. All the musicians assembled on stage for "Give Peace a Chance," as the enthusiastic audience sang along, waved and clapped. The concert closed with a recording of Lennon singing "Imagine," while giant screens showed a video featuring John and Yoko. Proceeds are to go to the Spirit Foundation, the charity founded by the Lennons in 1978, two years before Lennon was shot to death in front of his apartment in New York City. Lennon was slain on Dec. 8, 1980, when he was 40. The confessed killer, Mark Chapman, is serving a life prison sentence. 
 Forty years after Sam Walton first hung out his shingle, Walton's 5&10 will reopen to show how a little rural storekeeper built a discount retail empire. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Visitors Center opens Wednesday in the same building on the downtown square where Walton first opened for business on May 9, 1950. The center chronicles the rise of the nation's fastest-growing discount chain, using displays and audio-video presentations. It concentrates on how the free enterprise system works and how Wal-Mart thrived when similar companies didn't. The window displays date back to the store's opening, with Simplicity patterns and Johnson's Glo-Coat, a box of Dreft and some Ivory Snow. Inside, an electronic map details the company's 1,500-plus store chain today. Also on display at the center is the hula skirt that Sam Walton donned for his "dance on Wall Street," which he performed after challenging the company to reach a record 8 percent pre-tax profit in 1984. The goal was accomplished and he danced. The old and the modern together reflect the corporate culture of the nation's biggest discount retailer behind K mart Corp. of Detroit. Walton and his brother, Bud, opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in 1962. Both will be on hand for the opening, along with a sprinkling of other dignitaries, including Gov. Bill Clinton, the dedication speaker. Aside from the other displays and presentations, the center also has a replica of Sam Walton's original office at the store, including many fixtures he used 40 years ago. Also on display is a photograph of young Sam Walton, a fat-faced baby born in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Typical of the Wal-Mart outlook, Dust Bowl Oklahoma is termed "a place to grow and to dream" in a video on the Walton family. After a stint with J.C. Penney Co. and the Army, he opened a Ben Franklin store in Newport in 1945. He lost the lease on that one, and relocated to Bentonville. That's where the story took off. Sam Walton convinced Bob Bogle, then a public health officer, to take over management of his Bentonville Ben Franklin store in 1955. Walton "said he wanted to put in about a dozen stores" and needed someone to tend the shop in Bentonville while he and his brother built a chain of Ben Franklins, Bogle said in a recent interview. That's when Bogle found himself in Walton's "learn as you go" training program. "I got home at 10 o'clock that night after scrubbing and waxing the floor with Sam," Bogle said. Inauspicious first impressions are part of the story. In one video, David Glass, who succeeded Sam Walton as chief executive of Wal-Mart in 1988, recalled his impressions after attending the opening of the second Wal-Mart Discount City at Harrison in 1964. The first store, at Rogers, opened two years earlier. "I thought to myself this is absolutely the worst discount store, or retail store, I have ever seen," said Glass, who was president of a drugstore chain at the time. And Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Donald Soderquist recalls that when Walton took his idea of putting discount stores in rural areas to Ben Franklin headquarters in Chicago, officials there "just really didn't see a future in it." Don Shinkle, Wal-Mart's director of corporate and public affairs, attributed Wal-Mart's success to its "associates" _ the term for employees first coined in 1972 to stress that all Wal-Mart employees are partners in the company _ and to Sam Walton's leadership and knack for hiring the "right person at the right time." At the start of 1990, Wal-Mart owned 1,402 stores, employed 272,000 and listed sales of $25.8 billion. Sam's Wholesale Club closed out the year with 123 units and Wal-Mart announced plans to enter the California market. 
 The Bush administration is expected to name career diplomat Harry Shlaudeman as the first U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua in almost two years, a U.S. official says. The administration had planned to send another career diplomat, Melissa Wells, to Managua but had a change of heart after concluding she might face a prolonged Senate confirmation fight because she has been a target of conservatives. The administration is eager to have an ambassador in Managua quickly because of the delicate political situation there now that U.S.-backed President Violeta Chamorro has taken over after almost 11 years of rule by the leftist Sandinista party. Mrs. Chamorro faces the demanding challenges of reviving Nicaragua's bankrupt economy and achieving national reconciliation after long years of warfare. The United States has had no ambassador to Nicaragua since July 1988. At the time, the Sandinista government expelled Ambassador Richard Melton and seven others at the embassy on grounds they were interfering in the country's internal affairs. The Reagan administration retaliated by expelling eight Nicaraguan envoys in Washington, including Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann. Shlaudeman, who has served as ambassador to Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela, is a premier State Department specialist on Latin America and is expected to win easy Senate confirmation. He retired from the foreign service a year ago but was called back to duty last fall to serve as a State Department liaison with the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. Shlaudeman, who will turn 64 next week, was approached by a senior State Department official weeks ago about going to Managua but said he was not interested. He told intimates he would agree to go only if asked personally by President Bush. When Bush telephoned him earlier this week, Shlaudeman agreed to the appointment, the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday. In addition to his ambassadorial posts, Shlaudeman was the top Latin America aide to President Ford in the mid-1970s and a diplomatic trouble-shooter in Central America under President Reagan. The U.S. official said Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and several of his conservative allies would not assure the administration that they would not delay Wells' nomination. When Wells was nominated to be ambassador to Mozambique in late 1986, Helms and his colleagues blocked her appointment for 11 months. They took the action as a means of expressing opposition to the Reagan administration's friendship toward Mozambique's Marxist government. 
 Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Thursday accused India of waging "genocide" in secession-minded Kashmir and of trying to start a war with Pakistan to deflect attention. Her remarks raised tensions further between India and Pakistan, which have been feuding over Indian-controlled Kashmir. The two countries, which have fought wars over the area in 1949 and 1965, have in recent weeks again built up their military forces near the common border. "India is indulging in genocide," Ms. Bhutto said at a news conference Thursday after returning from a weeklong tour of eight Moslem countries in the Middle East and North Africa. "Islamic scholars are being killed and innocent people are being slaughtered. This is deplorable," said the prime minister. She was referring to the assassination of Maulvi Mohammad Farooq, the top Moslem cleric in Indian Kashmir. During his funeral procession Monday, Indian forces shot to death 58 people. Ms. Bhutto returned late Wednesday from visits to Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, North Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, a high-profile diplomatic offensive to drum up support for Pakistan's stand on the Kashmir issue. Hindu-dominated India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri militants fighting for secession of Jammu-Kashmir, India's only state with a Moslem majority. Pakistan, which is dominated by Moslems, denies the Indian charge. Since the Indian government ordered a crackdown on the militants in late January, more than 400 people have been killed. During her trip abroad, Ms. Bhutto said all her host countries agreed that India and Pakistan needed to find a lasting political settlement of the 43-year-old dispute. However, she added, "If subjected to aggression, we would have the full support of the Arab Islamic nations. Pakistan, I was assured, would never be left alone." "We believe the threats to peace are grave," she said. "We cannot rule out the possibility of an armed conflict, but we do not believe war is inevitable," she told reporters. Ms. Bhutto said she opposes an independent Kashmir. She said it was not envisioned when India and Pakistan gained independence in a 1947 partition. The prime minister again called for talks between Pakistan and India. She also said a neutral body should look into the charges made by both sides. India has already rejected both suggestions. 
 Mayor David Dinkins warned Jewish groups against protesting the visit of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela to New York City, saying the protests might insult the black community, a newspaper said today. The mayor also asked members of the "organized Jewish community" to dissuade more radical groups from disrupting the visit, the Daily News said. Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, will visit eight cities from June 20 to July 1. "There is a danger of many people who hold Nelson Mandela in very, very high esteem taking great umbrage" at any public protest, Dinkins said. "I think it's sad and unfortunate and tactically very, very unwise, because this man is an international symbol of freedom and especially so seen by persons of color," Dinkins told the newspaper in an interview. Leaders of several Jewish-American organizations plan to meet Mandela on Sunday in Geneva. The organizations want the South African leader to clarify his position on Israel. Mandela has embraced Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in public and has compared the struggle of Palestinians to that of black South Africans. Rabbi Abraham Weiss of the Hebrew Institute announced his Coalition of Concern will hold a protest at Mandela's public welcome in New York because of the anti-apartheid leader's "unbending anti-Israel stance." City councilman Noach Dear and state assemblyman Dov Hikind said if Mandela does not make a strong statement in support of Israel, they would take out ads in newspapers and hold demonstrations. 
 Ethnic violence killed 148 people and wounded 885 this month in the Central Asian republic of Kirghizia, the official news agency Tass said Wednesday. Tass said 748 of the injured had to be hospitalized and said a search was continuing for a police officer who vanished June 7. No new outbreaks were reported in the region near the border city of Osh in western Kirghizia, where clashes arising from a land dispute began on June 2 between ethnic Kirghiz and Uzbeks, both Sunni Moslems. The argument involves allocation of land in a densly populated region where housing is scarce. It was the latest in a series of bloody civil conflicts to trouble President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's government. Maj. Gen. Alexander Grienko, chief of the Interior Ministry's Political Department, said that in two years of civil strife _ mainly ethnic clashes _ in the Soviet Union, about 24,000 people have been arrested. He said in Moscow on Tuesday that ministry troops had to be used in 13 regions of the Soviet Union because of such outbreaks, Tass said. Grienko said 16 ministry soldiers were killed, four were reported missing and more than 1,000 wounded. Tass did not quote Grienko on how civilians casualties. The general was quoted as saying these conflicts "were often accompanied by riots and pogroms, arson and massacre of innocent people, (and) complete or partial destabilization of the situation." Besides unrest this month in Kirghizia and Uzbekistan, ethnic violence also has been reported in recent years in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan. 
 Thunderstorms swept through central and eastern Ohio, causing flooding that killed at least ten people, left dozens missing and forced hundreds of others from their homes, officials said today. Two creeks just outside this Ohio River village of 4,300 people overflowed when about 4 inches of rain fell Thursday night in about an hour. "It created a wall of water," said Jim Williams of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. "The problem we're having right now is accounting for the people we can't find." Williams said 40 to 60 people remained unaccounted for at midday. Belmont County's sheriff's Sgt. Bart Giesey said 10 people were confirmed dead. Gov. Richard Celeste declared a state of emergency and surveyed the area. The raging waters knocked homes off their foundations and washed away a bar filled with people in Shadyside, an Appalachian Mountain foothill town. Temporary morgues were set up at Bellaire City Hospital and a funeral home in Shadyside. Four bodies were brought to the hospital from the Shadyside area, hospital spokesman Lawrence England said. England said the four bodies were taken to the Bauknecht Funeral Home in Shadyside. Patty Valloric, director of the funeral home, said seven bodies had been brought there. The Shadyside Fire Department set up a command center at the Jefferson Elementary School to coordinate rescue efforts. Command center spokeswoman Karen Bovek said officials had no complete death toll figure. Authorities were searching for victims in rural areas. "You're talking miles and miles of country roads that haven't been gotten to yet," she said. "It's a disaster here." Shadyside _ about 10 miles south of Wheeling, W.Va. _ is in Belmont County, a mostly hilly, rural area in eastern Ohio. Acting Mayor James Amato said the storms created a deluge that knocked homes off their foundations. "There are a lot of trailers out in this area that got hit," he said. Belmont County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Judy Phillips said a Shadyside bar full of people was washed away when water caved in the back wall. Two people were accounted for, she said. But she could offer no estimate of how many were in the bar. Shadyside Fire Chief Mark Badia said rescuers pulled people from three cars in Wegee Creek, which flows through Shadyside and into the Ohio River. "I don't know how to describe it ... you've got to see it to believe it," Badia said. There also was flooding in Jefferson County, north of Belmont, and Licking County in central Ohio. The Ohio departments of transportation and natural resources, the State Highway Patrol, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the American Red Cross are assisting state government in assessing the damage, Ohio Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Stacie Gilg said. About 200 residents were evacuated from their homes in central Ohio after 3 inches of rain fell in an hour, flooding streets and washing out rural roads. Residents from Newark and Marne in Licking County spent Thursday night in three emergency shelters, said Licking County Disaster Services Agency spokesman Neil Snelling. Sixty residents were from one street in Newark. "Nobody has been hurt, but everything is pretty wet here," Snelling said. The Newark Fire Department and other agencies evacuated residents in low-lying areas of Newark and the neighboring village of Marne, said Wayne Tresemer, Licking County Disaster Services director. He said water was standing up to 5 feet deep in some streets on the city's east side, and the Newark Fire Department and other agencies used boats to evacuated some residents. Licking County was already among 14 Ohio counties covered in a disaster declaration issued by President Bush for storms earlier this month, and people who suffered losses from Thursday night's storms will also be eligible for assistance, Ms. Gilg said. In Jefferson County, 50 to 60 residents were evacuated in Adena, where water was 6 to 8 feet deep in streets because of creek flooding. Two inches of rain caused flooding in Franklin County in central Ohio and 3.75 inches of rain was dumped on Holmes County in north-central Ohio, the National Weather Service said. Flood waters in most areas had subsided by Thursday night, the weather service and local authorities said. The forecast for today called for a slight chance of thunderstorms in central and southern Ohio. 
 Torrential thunderstorms sent a flash flood surging through a valley into this Ohio River town, killing at least 11 people, leaving 51 missing and scores of others homeless Friday, authorities said. Raging floodwaters late Thursday swept homes off foundations and washed away cars. About 200 people were reported evacuated in central Ohio. "The valleys are choked with debris," Gov. Richard Celeste told reporters after flying over the hilly Appalachian region in eastern Ohio. "A wall of water wiped a path through the area." The governor declared a state of emergency, and dispatched about 50 National Guardsmen to the area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared Belmont County, which includes Shadyside, and Jefferson and Franklin counties disaster areas, making federal aid available to residents. Seventeen counties now have been declared disaster areas because of flooding or tornadoes since May 29. Ten bodies were taken to the Bauknecht Funeral Home in Shadyside, said Bob Bell, funeral director. One body was taken to Bellaire City Hospital, he said. Chuck Vogt, Belmont County coroner's investigator, also said there were 11 confirmed dead. Earlier, Fire Chief Mark Badia had said 14 adults and two children were dead. The names of the victims have not been released. County Sheriff Tom McCort, who said he was running the recovery effort, said 51 people in Shadysville and Meade Township, where the two creeks run south of the village, were missing as of 8:45 p.m. The list was compiled through telephone inquiries with townspeople and relatives and interviews with people evacuated from the area. About 200 people came and went from a Shadyside disaster center during the day, seeking news of missing friends and relatives. Vogt said two bodies were found in the Ohio River and one was found in a field next to the river after water receded. He said the rest were found in the creeks, which flow into the river. Some of the bodies were taken to a funeral home that set up a temporary morgue in Shadyside, about 10 miles south of Wheeling, W.Va. Officials from Ohio, West Virginia and the U.S. Coast Guard were searching the Ohio River for survivors and bodies, and Badia said National Guardsmen were to continue searching the creeks throughout the night. At least five houses along Wegee Creek were washed away, and two cars were floating in water in one of the basements. Anything that was still standing was covered with at least 6 feet of debris such as trees, appliances and furniture. The National Weather Service issued no flood warning before the disaster, although it did issue a flood watch, said Al Wheeler, deputy meteorologist in the bureau's Cleveland office. Weather service offices in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Pittsburgh showed the storm had diminished over eastern Ohio when it had actually intensified, Wheeler said. Thursday night's thunderstorms caused flash flooding across a wide area of central and eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. The floods closed roads, damaged homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. But no place was hit with anything approaching the ferocity of the flooding in Shadyside. About 5.5 inches of rain fell between 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., turning two Ohio River tributaries outside the village of 4,300 people into dangerous torrents. About 35 buildings, including a tavern, were damaged along Wegee Creek, and 50 buildings were hit by a flood along Pipe Creek, four miles south of Wegee Creek, said Dick Quinlin, Belmont County emergency services coordinator. Part of the tavern was washed away when water caved in the back wall, said Judy Phillips, a sheriff's department spokeswoman. She said two patrons were accounted for, but she could offer no estimate of how many were inside at the time. One man was found clinging to a bar stool, said state Sen. Robert Ney, whose district includes Shadyside. "I've never seen anything of this magnitude. There was no warning," Ney said. Rescuers pulled people from three cars in Wegee Creek, which flows through Shadyside and into the Ohio River, said Badia. "I don't know how to describe it. ... You've got to see it to believe it," Badia said. One resident, Robert Ramsey, said his wife, Rose, was crushed to death in their house by the water. There was no complete accounting of deaths, said Karen Bovek, a spokeswoman at a Shadyside Fire Department command center set up an a school. "You're talking miles and miles of country roads that haven't been gotten to yet," she said. "It's a disaster here." There also was flooding in Jefferson County, north of Belmont, in Licking County in central Ohio, and in northwestern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. "It's a pretty good mess, especially in the northern end of the county," said Clarence Weston, a dispatcher with the Marshall County Sheriff's Department in Moundsville, W.Va. "We had 3.5 inches of rain in a two-hour period last night." Most of the problems in West Virginia were confined to road closures and basement flooding. At least 25 people were evacuated during the night in the Pittsburgh suburb of Etna, where some homes had up to 5 feet of water in their basements, said borough manager Bill Skertich. They returned to their homes Friday. Landslides were reported in the Pittsburgh area, and many city streets were closed during the storm. The flooding was more serious in Licking County, Ohio. Wayne Tresemer, the county's Disaster Services director, said water was standing up to 5 feet deep in some streets in the town of Newark, and the fire department and other agencies used boats to evacuate some residents. Two inches of rain caused flooding in Franklin County in central Ohio and 3.75 inches of rain was dumped on Holmes County in north-central Ohio, the National Weather Service said. In Jefferson County, just north of Belmont County in the eastern part of the state, 50 to 60 residents were evacuated in Adena, where water was 6 to 8 feet deep in streets because of creek flooding. Flood waters in most areas had subsided by Thursday night, according to authorities. 
 Cement blocks were all that remained of homes, fallen branches stood where trees used to be and muddy streams meandered through the outskirts of this Ohio River town after a furious flash flood. Residents donned shorts and hip-waders Friday to begin putting their lives back together after 5{ inches of rain fell in 3{ hours late Thursday, churning floodwaters that left at least 11 people dead and 51 others missing early today. The shock had not worn off, said police officer Bruce Fink, whose bristly face bore signs of more than 20 hours on duty, including work at a temporary morgue set up at a funeral home. "We have counselors back there now, but we've lost whole families. It's just been devastating," he said Friday night. Fink said he feared there wouldn't be enough funeral homes to handle the dead in this eastern Ohio town of 4,300 people. Allan Hans called the flooding "the devil's work." "I lost everything but my car and the clothes I'm wearing," he said. Hans said he was sitting in his trailer when he heard a branch crack and went to check out the noise. He saw rushing water, ran to tell neighbors and moved his car. The trailer was swept away by the time he returned home. John and Sue Wright, whose home rests on the banks of Pipe Creek, estimated they lost about $20,000 worth of property. "I was one of the lucky ones. What I lost, I can replace," Wright said. Although it was the center of rescue operations, downtown Shadyside suffered no apparent flood damage. But it was a different story on the outskirts of town, in the heart of Ohio's richest coal fields. Cars were mired roof-deep in mud, and guardrails and chunks of concrete were torn from roads. A 20-foot, 18-inch thick beam that held a sign leading to 3K's Bar near Pipe Creek was twisted like a pretzel by the force of what witnesses described as a wall of water. People moved rubble and made makeshift repairs to bridges that span McMann Creek, which links homes to Ohio Route 147. Many bridges were washed away. Small tractors and four-wheel-drive vehicles were the only means of transportation in much of the stricken area. At least 170 members of the Ohio National Guard were called in to patrol and to help rebuild flood-swept roads, said Stacie Gilg, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Disasters always bring out the curious, and this was no exception. By Friday night, traffic jammed Ohio Route 7, which skirts the Ohio River and is the main north-south road through town. Belmont County Sheriff Tom McCort said he suspected many of the vehicles belonged to sightseers. McCort said there were no serious attempts at looting. He said he was pleased with the assistance of young people. One young man turned in a strongbox filled with valuable coins lost in the flood, the sheriff said. "The kid ... handed me this box and it was unlocked," McCort said. "It really made me feel good." 
 The mother of a 12-year-old girl swept away by a flash flood was clinging to hope that her daughter was alive but perhaps unable to get home, a family friend said Saturday. Janice Trigg's daughter, Kerri, was among nearly three dozen still missing Saturday night, two days after the floods hit eastern Ohio. "She keeps saying Kerri Jo may have amnesia, or she can't move to get help. That's a mother's hope," said the friend, Betty Kreiter, 67. Searchers for the missing used trained dogs to sniff through the rubble and along the banks of the Wegee and Pipe creeks, which empty into the Ohio River, in an effort that stretched five miles south of this town. Workers also sifted through debris that collected at the Hannibal locks and dam on the Ohio River, about 25 miles south. Relatives of the missing were staying with friends and family, said the Rev. Robert Gracey, who was counseling flood victims at a school turned into a relief center. Kerri had been playing at a friend's house when the one-story home suddenly was washed away in the flood Thursday night. The friend, 9-year-old Amber Colvin, was swept down Wegee Creek and into the Ohio River, but survived a seven-mile ordeal by clinging to logs.Amber was released from a hospital Saturday after treatment for minor injuries. She said she last saw Kerri when the two, alone in the house, jumped into a bathtub for safety in the storm. The tub was washed into the creek. Throughout the town, there were stories of fear, luck and close calls. Deanna Hulderman, 48, said she and her husband, Clancey, were pulled under by Wegee Creek flood water at a bar but were reunited about a half-hour later. Mrs. Hulderman said she, her husband and about seven others were in the 3Ks bar when a wall collapsed and water rushed through. "I saw my husband go under and get washed away. He was yelling how much he loved me, and then I went under," Mrs. Hulderman said. "I began praying `God, don't let me die like this,' and the next thing I knew I was standing on my feet, and the water went down." Mrs. Hulderman said firefighters rescued her husband at the mouth of the creek near the Ohio River. Capt. James Boling of the Ohio National Guard said local authorities told him some of the bar patrons remained unaccounted for. Kathy Schramm, 37, said she, her husband and their two children fled their two-story house before water washed through. When they returned, the basement and first floor were flooded, and the surrounding area "looked like a big lake." "I looked up at a house on the hill, and it looked like it was on stilts on the water," Mrs. Schramm said. 
 The death toll from flash floods that swept through a rural area of eastern Ohio rose to 20 Sunday as searchers dug along two creeks and dived into the Ohio River. Sixteen people remained missing. Workers used shovels and picks to dig along the creek banks, and sifted through debris at places marked with red flags, where search dogs indicated they'd detected human scents, said National Guard Capt. Jim Boling. Divers worked where the two creeks empty into the Ohio. Four bodies were found Sunday. But two of those were not immediately identified, and the list of missing was not revised to account for them. The number missing dropped to 16 with the other two bodies and the removal of two other names: a woman who called to say she was safe and a person who authorities weren't sure lived in the area, said coroner's investigator Chuck Vogt. The 20th victim was pulled from the mouth of Pipe Creek at the Ohio River, about seven miles south of Shadyside, Vogt said. Another body was found in debris along Wegee Creek, and two bodies were found earlier in the Ohio, he said. That brought the confirmed death toll in Thursday's floods to 20, including five children. Twenty-three dog teams from four states were searching for victims, said Boling. The digging will continue at least through Tuesday, said Fire Chief Mark Badia. "The thing you find once you start into these brush piles and piles of trees are cars, and they have to be torn apart and searched separately," Badia said. "Everything you turn up creates a different situation." But Vogt said he doubted many of the missing would be found alive. "It's just been too long. I don't think there's anybody alive out there," he said. "You can't swim out there that long in the Ohio River." The Wegee and Pipe creeks overflowed Thursday night during storms that poured 5{ inches of rain onto eastern Ohio in 3{ hours. The floods destroyed as many as 70 houses and damaged up to 40 others. Authorities said Friday that 60 people were missing; some of those were later found dead, while others notified authorities that they were safe. Officials also learned that some of those feared missing had moved out of the area. Officials were comparing county property lists and data from the Census Bureau with information from residents and relatives, Boling said. Investigators Sunday blamed the flash floods on an unusually heavy rainstorm that overwhelmed the designed flow capacities of threebridges over the creeks. Badia said rainwater running down hillsides forced debris into the creeks, forming dams at each bridge. The "dams" broke under the water pressure. "Eventually the bridges couldn't hold any more. The debris broke loose, and that's when we got three big gushes of water," he said. As rescue efforts continued, the National Guard cleared roads and bridges leading into the stricken area. Eighteen Ohio counties have been declared federal disaster areas since tornadoes and flooding first struck May 25. Across the border in West Virginia, Gov. Gaston Caperton said Sunday he had no precise dollar figure on damage from flooding Friday along a five-mile stretch near New Martinsville and in nearby Ohio County, but estimated it will run into millions of dollars. No deaths or serious injuries were reported. Caperton toured flooded areas in Wheeling and the Doolin Run community near New Martinsville. He said he saw "tremendous devastation" to hundreds of houses, house trailers and cars. State Public Safety Secretary Joseph Skaff estimated that repairing and replaceing bridges and roads will cost about $750,000. National Guard soldiers helped with cleanup Sunday. 
 The death toll from last week's flash floods mounted to 21 today when a body was found in the Ohio River, and authorities said there was little hope for the 14 people still listed as missing. "It's just been too long. I don't think there's anybody alive out there. You can't swim out there that long in the Ohio River," said Chuck Vogt, Belmont County coroner's investigator. The search for the missing was suspended briefly this morning when a thunderstorm rolled through the area. Heavy rain fell for about 45 minutes, swelling Wegee Creek, one of two creeks that overflowed in Thursday night's flash flood. By midmorning, the muddy creek was nearly crossing a road about three miles upstream from where the floods inflicted the most damage. Lt. Dean Irvin of the Ohio Army National Guard said there were no immediate reports of additional property damage. The body found this morning was in the Ohio River near Moundsville, W.Va., about 10 miles south of Shadyside, according to Chuck Vogt, Belmont County coroner's investigator. The number of names on the list of missing dropped from 18 to 14 with the identities of three victims and a call by one person alerting authorities that she was safe, Vogt said. One of the recovered bodies remains unidentified. Authorities are not ruling out the possibility that other people not on the list could be missing. Four bodies were recovered Sunday. Officials said Friday that 60 people were missing; some of those later were found dead, while others notified authorities that they were safe and officials learned that still more had moved out of the area. Wegee and Pipe creeks overflowed during storms that dumped 5{ inches of rain in 3{ hours. The floods destroyed as many as 70 houses and damaged up to 40 others. Most of those whose homes and belongings were swept away by the wall of water will have to put their lives back together largely without benefit of insurance. Few people in the coal-mining and steel-making area carried flood insurance, and homeowners' insurance will not cover damage from Thursday's flood, residents and insurers said. "We didn't think we needed to have flood insurance. For what? That creek never flooded. Then this. Everybody just got wiped out," said Julia Kulazenka. Rainwater running down hillsides had forced debris into the creeks and formed dams at bridges spanning them, Shadyside Fire Chief Mark Badia said. "Eventually the bridges couldn't hold any more. The debris broke loose, and that's when we got three big gushes of water," Badia said. The home Mrs. Kulazenka shared with her husband until his death last July was damaged as Wegee Creek raged out of control. She said replacing a machine shop, garage, deck and automobiles she and her son owned would cost more than $80,000. "They told us homeowners' won't do us no good. So unless the government helps us rebuild, I don't know what I'll do with this place," Mrs. Kulazenka said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will open an office Tuesday in Shadyside to accept applications from residents for low-interest loans and grants to help them rebuild. Before the flood, land in the Wegee Creek valley fetched handsome prices, said Kulazenka's son, Charles Kulazenka. That was especially welcome to residents, many of whom were either retired or laid off from jobs in coal mines in Belmont County, where unemployment in April was 6.8 percent. "Ground was at a premium down here before this because it was just outside the city limits (of Shadyside). It was quiet and peaceful and people were looking to buy and build new homes out here. Now, you couldn't give it away," Kulazenka said. "But we can't be bitter, though, because we've got our lives, and a lot of our neighbors, real close buddies, weren't that lucky." 
 The arrival Wednesday of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela prompted an outpouring of praise and encouragement from politicians and supporters. A sampling of their comments: The Rev. Jesse Jackson: "The presence of Nelson Mandela generates hope around the world. He emerged from the prison unbroken, unbowed and without bitterness, and he continues to struggle for human rights. Just as the walls came down in Berlin, they should come down in South Africa as well." Mayor David Dinkins: "Our honored guest ... is a George Washington, a Bolivar, a King, a Herzl. He is like a modern-day Moses leading the people of South Africa from enslavement at the hands of the pharaohs. He and his people have endured their walk through the desert of deprivation. And now, his path is clear. He will not be deterred. He and his people have suffered their way into the leadership of South Africa." Former tennis star Arthur Ashe: "For me, one of my fondest dreams and hopes is to see Nelson Mandela free. I never thought I'd see the day. I feel humbled by being part of his welcome to our country. He will do more good here than he will ever, ever know." New York Gov. Mario Cuomo: "Today we are celebrating Nelson Mandela and honoring his commitment to mankind. This government ought to continue to support the needs of South Africa with its speeches, its prayers and its money." New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio: "Today is a restatement of our commitment that all people are created equal." 
 The earthquake that devastated Iran early Thursday took tens of thousands of lives because people were asleep in fragile homes built on flood plains, an earthquake expert said. "Most casualties from earthquakes are caused by something falling on top of you," said Russ Needham, a geophysist with the U.S. Geological Survey that monitors ground motion around the world. The quake hit at 12:30 a.m. in Iran, when most of the people were in their homes, Needham said Thursday in a telephone interview from Golden, Colo.. At least 25,000 people died and thousands were injured in the quake, which demolished scores of villages and buried thousands of people in the rubble of their homes, Iranian officials said. Needham said most structures in that area are built of a ceramic-type brick or adobe that collapses easily. "It's very similar to what we had in Armenia," he said of the Dec. 7, 1988, earthquake that killed about 25,000 people. A Soviet parliamentary report later blamed the high number of fatalities on shoddily built buildings. The Armenian quake was measured at 6.9 on the Richter scale, but Thursday's earthquake shook the earth with a magnitude of 7.7. The shock wave traveled through the mountainous section of coastal Iran where most of the buildings are built on a flood plain of loosely deposited soil that shifts in an earthquake and allows structures to collapse, he said. The 7.7-magnitude quake was the largest ever recorded in that area, where two major plates of the earth's crust meet, Needhams said. "Iran is in a very active seismic region," he said, and that there have been many smaller quakes. Twelve earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 have occurred in Iran during the last 30 years, Needhams said. A quake of magnitude 7 is considered a major earthquake, capable of widespread, heavy damage in populated areas. 
 Checkpoint Charlie, the famed Allied border crossing by the Berlin Wall, was to be hauled away Friday. U.S. Army Sgt. Lorn Walsh late Thursday stood sentry for the last time by the little white shack, rendered unnecessary by the thaw in East-West relations. "This is a nice way to end my military service ... to be here when they take it down," said Walsh, 23, a military police officer who leaves the army in six weeks to study for the priesthood. A huge crane hung over the small house in the middle of the narrow street that leads to East Berlin, where a sign in English, German, Russian and French says: "You are now leaving the American sector." Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and their colleagues from France, Britain and the two Germanys were to preside over a ceremony marking the checkpoint's removal Friday. The envoys from the German states and the four World War II Allies that divided them were in East Berlin to discuss the international aspects of German unification. Since East Germany overthrew its Communist government last fall and the German borders were opened, Checkpoint Charlie has become as superfluous as the crumbling Berlin Wall. With huge sections of the Berlin Wall being ripped down daily, U.S. officials decided two weeks ago to remove Checkpoint Charlie. The border crossing was the scene of stirring escapes and heartbreaking captures as East Germans tried flee to the West, breaking through East German control stations just 20 yards away from the Allied checkpoint. East Germans once manned their side of the checkpoint with emotionless effiency, closely scrutinizing travel documents and creating a palpable tension. Thursday night, they merely waved Westerners through their side of the checkpoint, although some tourists demanded their documents be checked. 
 The earthquake that struck northern Iran brought reminders of another quake that devastated Soviet Armenia in 1988. Like Thursday's earthquake in Iran, the Dec. 7, 1988, earthquake in Armenia killed about 25,000 people. Most died in structures that collapsed when the quake hit. "It's very similar to what we had in Armenia," said Russ Needham, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. The Armenian quake was measured at 6.9 on the Richter scale, but Thursday's earthquake shook the earth with a magnitude of 7.7 according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the Iranian quake, the casualty count was pushed up by the fact that people were indoors and asleep at the time, just after midnight. Many of the victims lived in fragile homes built of a ceramic-type brick or adobe that collapses easily. In the Armenian quake, a Soviet parliamentary report later blamed the high number of fatalities on shoddily built buildings. "Most casualties from earthquakes are caused by something falling on top of you," said Needham in a telephone interview from Golden, Colo.. The quake struck an area of Iran where most of the buildings are built on a flood plain of loosely deposited soil that shifts in an earthquake and allows structures to collapse, Needham said. The 7.7-magnitude quake was the largest ever recorded in that area, where two major plates of the earth's crust meet, he said. "Iran is in a very active seismic region," he said, and that there have been many smaller quakes. Twelve earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 have occurred in Iran during the last 30 years, Needham said. A quake of magnitude 7 is considered a major earthquake, capable of widespread, heavy damage in populated areas. 
 Soldiers from three nations locked the doors of Checkpoint Charlie today and a crane whisked away the Cold War relic that symbolized a divided world. A U.S. Army band played a stirring song about old Berlin as the rectangular white sentry station, a place East Germans died trying to reach, was hoisted onto a truck for its passage into history. The famed Allied checkpoint by the Berlin Wall was closed with an elaborate ceremony that brought together the top diplomats from the Germanys and the four World War II Allies. "For 29 years Checkpoint Charlie embodied the Cold War," U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III told a crowd of invited guests and journalists on Berlin's Friedrich Street. "And now, 29 years after it was built, we meet here today to dismantle it and to bury the conflicts it created." Baker, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and the foreign ministers from France, Britain and the two Germanys each heralded the end of the checkpoint as a symbol of change. Shevardnadze called for the removal of Berlin's status as an Allied-controlled city and the withdrawal of troops within six months after the two German states unify, which could come in December. The proposal, as translated into English by the Soviets and distributed later to news media, apparently would also include the Kremlin's soldiers stationed just outside the city proper. The United States, France and Great Britain have an estimated 12,000 troops in West Berlin. Berlin has been split into Soviet, U.S., British and France sectors and West Berlin remains technically separate from West Germany. The German and Allied foreign ministers are meeting in East Berlin to discuss the status of the city and a united Germany's role in world affairs. All borders are to be opened between the Berlins and the Germanys by July 2, when the nations merge their economies. Large sections of the Berlin Wall are being dismantled daily, and U.S. officials decided to time the removal of Checkpoint Charlie with the foreign ministers' meeting. A color guard of French, British and American soldiers strode to the building and locked the doors leading to each Allied nation's compartment in the checkpoint. The giant crane then lifted the box-like building high into the air. U.S. Army spokesman Sgt. Ed McCarthy said he believes it is destined for a museum. Checkpoint Charlie stood just 20 yards from an East German checkpoint and was the only place between the Berlins that could be crossed on foot by non-Germans. The ceremony was closed to the public but not to the residents of the buildings that line Friedrich Street, which had been divided by the Berlin Wall since 1961. Illa Wobig leaned out her window and watched the ceremony unfold just 20 yards below the fourth-floor apartment where she has lived for 24 years. "I saw eight people shot to death on that street," she said. "I saw an East German officer try to go under a guard rail. He was shot in the neck." She said she also saw at least 20 successful escapes, by tunnel, car and on foot. "I saw Kennedy, Reagan and Carter give speeches here," she said. "I saw a James Bond movie filmed here. This is wonderful for history but it is sad for me. It was part of my home." East German construction worker Andreas Bratke was working near the wall in January 1986 when he suddenly bolted through the East German checkpoint, down Friedrich Street and through Checkpoint Charlie. "I ran as fast as I could," he said from his home in West Berlin. "Checkpoint Charlie is a very important place to me." 
 The Soviet Union said today that a united Germany can join NATO after a five-year transition period during which all Soviet and U.S. troops would leave the country. The United States rejected the proposal, a U.S. official said. The proposal was outlined by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze during international talks in East Berlin on the strategic future of a united Germany. The remarks, a copy of which were obtained by The Associated Press, indicates that a united Germany would be free to join the Western NATO alliance after a five-year transitional period. But in exchange, Western and Soviet troops would pull out of the country and Germany's own military strength would be sharply reduced, according to the proposal. Shevardnadze made the proposal as he met with U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and their counterparts from Britain, France and the two German states. "I am underwhelmed," Baker said when asked about the Soviet proposal while posing for pictures with the other foreign ministers. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. officials objected to the five-year time limit before Germany could join NATO. The official said the other Western ministers expressed the same reservations. The United States wants a united Germany to be a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union has been staunchly opposed. West Germany now is a mainstay of NATO and East Germany is a member of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. Shevardnadze said the Soviet proposal seeks to limit the strength of the German armed forces and "to revamp their structure to make sure that they are rendered incapable for offensive operations." It said those reductions could be undertaken over a three-year period. Germany also would be prevented from producing or deploying chemmical or nuclear weapons. It also said that within six months of unification, all Western troops should leave West Berlin, which remains technically under military occupation by the United States, France and Britian. The four nations would reduce their military forces in the country during a three-year period following unification first by 50 percent, then "bring them down to a level of token contingents, or completely withdraw them from Germany." There are about 380,000 Soviet troops in East Germany, while a quarter-million U.S. troops are stationed in West Germany along with tens of thousands of British and French soldiers. Previously, the Soviets had said their troops would stay in what is now East Germany for several years, but had left unclear the exact plans for pulling them out. Shevardnadze, speaking earlier at a ceremony for the removal of the Western Allies' Checkpoint Charlie, said he wanted the Big Four Powers' troops out of "greater Berlin" within six months after unification. The proposal, as translated into English by the Soviets and distributed to the news media, apparently would also include the Kremlin's soldiers stationed just outside the city proper. The United States, France and Great Britain have an estimated 12,000 troops in West Berlin. An official reached by telephone in the office of the military attache at the Soviet embassy in East Berlin said there were no Soviet troops stationed in the city proper. 
 Maik Polster was a stern-faced member of the East German secret police. Patrick Gainey took pictures for the U.S. Army. Andreas Bratke was an East German who wanted to be a West German. Illa Wobig saw eight people just like him die on her street. What they all had in common was a little white shack on the west side of the Berlin Wall, a guardhouse with a funny name that stood as a chilling symbol of the tensions that divided a street, a city, a nation, the world. Checkpoint Charlie, the famed Allied border crossing on the west side of the Berlin Wall, was lifted into the sky by a giant crane Friday, placed gently onto a flatbed truck and consigned to history. It was emptied, locked and taken away in an elaborate ceremony attended by six foreign ministers, a brace of generals, a brass brand and hundreds of reporters. "Sir, dismiss your detachment!" French Maj. Gen. Francois Lann barked to a young American officer, who crisply led away the last contingent of military police. The public was not invited to the ceremony on Friedrich Street, the avenue blocked by Checkpoint Charlie and its once-feared East German counterpart nearby. Illa Wobig raised six children in a fourth-floor apartment just 20 yards from Checkpoint Charlie. They saw it from their window for 24 years, and they saw it disappear Friday. "I saw eight people shot to death on that street," said Mrs. Wobig, 55. "I saw an East German officer try to go under a guard rail. He was shot in the neck." She said she saw at least 20 successful escapes. "Some were in cars and some came through a tunnel across the street," she said. "Some would walk very slowly, look around and just run." She is not sure if one of the people she saw was Andreas Bratke, a 23-year-old East Berlin construction worker. Tunnels, balloons, customized vehicles and other elaborate methods were used to flee past the Berlin Wall by desperate East Germans. Bratke just ran. "I ran as fast as I could," he said. "I still cannot believe it." Bratke is now a West Berlin engineering student. He was taking his certification examinations this week. Eight months after Bratke made his bold escape, Sgt. Patrick Gainey was coming back from a party when he saw a huge commotion near Checkpoint Charlie. "This guy had driven a cement truck with his girlfriend and baby through the checkpoint," said Gainey, a U.S. Army photographer. "He drove a half-mile into the west side just to make sure. When he stopped, he asked if he was in West Berlin." The escapee was Hans-Joachim Pofahl, who made the crossing through a hail of bullets. East Germany's border guards were as feared as members of the secret police. According to guard Maik Polster, they were members of the secret police. "I was with the state security," said Polster, 23, as he genially waved tourists through the East German checkpoint that is expected to follow Checkpoint Charlie into oblivion. "We had to maintain a certain level of appearance," he said. "No smiling, no joking. We had to watch for everything." The stone-faced scrutiny of the East German border guards helped give Checkpoint Charlie its chilling cachet. The checkpoint went up with the Berlin Wall in 1961. With the wall being dismantled daily in anticipation of German unification, U.S. officials decided to remove Checkpoint Charlie with a grand flourish. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and their counterparts from France, Britain and the two Germanys presided over the ceremony. While the Berlin Wall is coming down, temporary barricades were put up to keep the public from the ceremony. Several hundred craned their necks to watch from a half-block away. Eilli Wiechies, 60, watched the pageantry from his wheelchair on the sidewalk in front of his apartment house, one of the few regular people allowed on the grounds. "Finally, Germans can cross," he said, bitter that the Allied border crossing was reserved only for non-Germans. A U.S. Army band played "That is the Berlin Atmosphere," a stirring old song about the old Berlin, as the white checkpoint building was lifted to within 30 feet of Mrs. Wobig's window. A sign saying "What a pity, Checkpoint Charlie," hung from her sill. "I saw Kennedy, Reagan and Carter give speeches here," she said. "I saw a James Bond movie filmed here. This is wonderful for history, but it is sad for me. It was part of my home." 
 Iran is deliberately underreporting the number of casualties from Thursday's massive earthquake out of fear of a political backlash, leaders of a group seeking to overthrow the country's Islamic leadership say. "The regime is very much fearful of public outrage," said Shahin Gobadi, spokesman for the People's Mojahedin of Iran. "They're very much afraid of the political aftershocks." As Gobadi spoke Friday, members of the organization denounced Iran's government at a noisy rally held in a park across the street from the White House. Northern Iran was stuck Thursday by an earthquake measuring between 7.3 and 7.7 on the Richter Scale. Iran has told the United Nations that the death toll is at least 36,000, but Gobadi said his organization has received estimates closer to 100,000. Gobadi said the country cannot properly assist earthquake victims because its treasury has been spent in a war with neighboring Iraq and against internal opposition. "They have been very late in assisting the people," he said. Sympathy for the earthquake victims was a secondary issue for the chanting, flag-waving rally participants, who also carried signs criticizing their native country. Planning for the event began three weeks before the earthquake, but part of the Friday's activities focused on Iran's stricken residents. Gobadi said shoddy housing in which the government forced people to live was the cause for the widespread loss of life. "This regime has brought them nothing but devastation and misery. This regime has devoted all of its resources to a senseless war with Iraq and to oppression of the people at home," he said. A U.N.-sponsored cease-fire was declared last year after eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Iran's Islamic republic was established in 1979 after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was deposed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage. The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran in April 1980. The shah died in exile in July 1980, U.S. hostages were freed six months later and Khomeini died last June. Gobadi said his 25-year-old group had helped depose the shah but had no part in organizing the Islamic republic. "Even in this tragedy for which we grieve we cannot trust the regime in Iran," Rep. Mervyn Dymally, D-Calif., told an estimated 3,000 people attending the rally. "There were many, many victims before this tragedy and there are victims now whose needs need to be addressed by the people of the United States," he said. Dymally, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, praised President Bush's offer of humanitarian aid to Iran but said Bush must make sure the assistance is channeled through non-government groups. The State Department said Friday that Iran was willing to accept earthquake relief from the American Red Cross and other U.S. humanitarian organizations. 
 Countries worldwide, both friendly and hostile to Tehran's Islamic government, sent supplies, medical personnel and condolences to Iran, where about 40,000 people have died in an earthquake. Iran's deadliest earthquake since 1976 jolted the northern part of the country Thursday, devastating towns and injuring at least 100,000 people. The United States sent a message of condolence and expressed its willingness to provide humanitarian aid. Iran, which has had no diplomatic ties with the United States since the 1979 seizure of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, said it would welcome relief from the American Red Cross and other U.S. humanitarian groups. Moderate Arab countries with which Iran has had prickly relations _ Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan _ also offered their support. An official statement distributed late Friday by the Saudi Press Agency said the kingdom followed with "deep sorrow" the news of the tragedy. "The kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... declares its readiness to help in extending assistance to those harmed by the tragedy, wishing to help ease the pain of the afflicted from among the sons of the Iranian Moslem nation," it said. Jordan announced Saturday it was sending medical aid to Iran, but details were not immediately clear. King Hussein sent condolences to Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday in what is believed to be the first direct contact between Jordanian and Iranian heads of state in almost a decade. Jordan backed Iraq in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which ended with a cease-fire in August 1988, and at one point sent hundreds of Jordanian volunteers to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers. Egypt was sending two military planes with supplies, the Middle East News Agency reported. President Hosni Mubarak offered the aid "in the framework of Egypt's concern to provide help for brothers and friends, especially at times of natural disasters." The official Soviet news agency Tass reported that a professional lifesaving team from the Armenian capital of Yerevan flew Saturday to Iran. The team gained experience in the devastating 1988 earthquake in Armenia that killed 25,000 people. Thousands of residents in the predominantly Moslem Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, donated tons of flour, rice and tea, and contributed more than $500,000 to a special earthquake fund, Tass said. The Italian Red Cross sent a plane to Iran Saturday with relief supplies, including tents, blankets and medicine. In Paris, the French government, which already has sent a 200-member civil defense team _ including rescuers, medical personnel and search dogs _ said Saturday it would send an entire mobile hospital unit if Iran wanted it. In West Germany, the Foreign Ministry said that it was sending tents, blankets, hospital equipment and cooking equipment to Iran. Eight tons was being shipped Saturday and the government has chartered a jumbo jet to transport 100 tons of equipment Monday. At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II sent aid to earthquake victims and a message of condolence to Iranian leaders. The Vatican said in a statement that the donation of an unspecified amount was to "provide for the most immediate needs of the population hurt by this huge earthquake." John Paul also sent a telegram to the papal nuncio, or diplomatic representative, in Tehran saying the pope "is praying fervently for the wounded and the families of the victims." The Indian government said it would donate medicine, blankets and other relief supplies worth more than $500,000. China's Red Cross said it was sending $106,000 worth of relief supplies, state-run television said Saturday. The Polish government was sending 5 tons of powdered milk, a ton of bed sheets, a ton of medicine and 3 tons of blankets and clothing, according to Polish media reports. Malaysia was providing more than $90,000 in relief aid. Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Ahmad Kamil Jaafar told reporters Saturday the money would be used to buy medicine, food, powdered milk, tents and other essential items. 
 An anti-American newspaper in Iran said Sunday the United States is partly to blame for the death of tens of thousands of people in last week's earthquake. The "criminal role of America in Iran's past became evident once again in the recent earthquake," the Jomhuri Islami said in an editorial reported by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "Our people, even under the rubble, chant `Death to America' and pray to God to cut off the hands of the United States ... even those hands stretched out to help," it said. It argued that by "plundering Iran's oil and other resources" for 25 years, the United States had prevented the use of even a small part of the national wealth for urban development projects and "advanced (anti-seismic) building construction systems." "Even after its expulsion from Iran, the U.S. government by imposing economic sanctions and launching several other plots, halted the renovation of the country," the editorial added. The newspaper was implying that with these actions the United States had blocked the diversion of funds to earthquake safety measures. "If the United States has real humanitarian objectives and intended to help the Iranian nation, it should do only one thing, stop hatching plots," the newspaper said. It called on Iranians to reject relief offers by the United States and "other governments whose hands are stained with the blood of the Iranian people." Iran, at odds with the United States since the 1979 seizure of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, has said it would welcome relief from the American Red Cross and other U.S. humanitarian groups. The two nations have no diplomatic ties. 
 Planes loaded with food, medicine and tents are converging on earthquake-stricken Iran from around the world, among them the first private American relief mission to the country in more than a decade. Authorities now are faced with the difficult task of getting supplies into the affected areas. More than 60 aftershocks jolted the quake zone in northwestern Iran on Sunday, triggering landslides along one key relief route. Tehran radio said Sunday that 68 relief aircraft had landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport during a 24-hour period. Among them was a plane carrying medicine and other supplies from the United States. Another plane carrying U.S. government aid was due today. The shipment that arrived Sunday was the first of its kind to be accepted by Iran since the hostage crisis of 1979-80, when 52 Americans were held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Two countries that also have suffered devastating earthquakes in recent years, the Soviet Union and Mexico, were among those sending assistance to help victims of Thursday's quake. Leaders of Iran's Arab neighbors, including Iraq, which waged an eight-year war with Iran, issued statements of sympathy and support. Pope John Paul II called on the international community to help earthquake victims, asking for "a real and generous demonstration of solidarity with our brothers. Let us pray that their suffering is alleviated." The Vatican was among the many international donors. Eleven planes from West Germany ferried in 145 tons of supplies plus a field hospital with two medical teams. Nine flights arrived from Turkey. The Spanish Red Cross sent medicines and food; India sent medicine. The Austrian Red Cross shipped tents, blankets and medicine. Bernard Kouchner, the French secretary of state for humanitarian action, arrived in Iran on Sunday to coordinate French assistance and evaluate future needs, Radio France Inter said. The French government has sent a civil defense team of 195 people and 18 search dogs along with at least 24 tons of equipment. The Saudi-based 46-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, an umbrella organization for the world's estimated one billion Moslems, issued an "urgent appeal to the international community and especially Islamic countries and organizations to hasten with emergency aid for the Iranians ..." AmeriCares, a private U.S. relief organization based in New Canaan, Conn., flew in the 42 tons pounds of supplies that arrived Sunday. "To be on the ground here in Tehran is a very special feeeling for us," said Stephen M. Johnson, president of AmeriCares. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Agency for International Development said a Red Cross charter flight carrying $225,000 worth of supplies donated by the U.S. government would arrive in Tehran this morning. Iran is believed to have influence with the Shiite Moslem extremists holding 16 Western hostages, including six Americans, in Lebanon. The longest-held is Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of The Associated Press. He was kidnapped March 16, 1985. The Soviet Union sent in medical teams and supplies from Soviet republics bordering Iran. More than 200 medical personnel arrived from the Soviet Union, which also sent medical supplies, trucks, trailers, ambulances, cranes, buses and water tankers. The December 1988 earthquake in Soviet Armenia left at least 25,000 people dead. Mexico, which lost at least 10,000 people in a 1985 earthquake, is sending food, medical supplies and blankets, officials said Sunday. In Lebanon, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, or Party of God, said its members were donating 10 percent of their salaries to help the victims. That would amount to about $500,000, according to Hezbollah sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 The bodies of four Moslems were found in a Kashmir town Monday, five days after they were kidnapped by Moslem militants agitating for secession from India. The bodies, which had bullet wounds, were found in the town of Sopore about 35 miles northwest of the Kashmir capital of Srinagar, said police officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Anonymous callers to local newspapers and news agency offices said the four were killed by the Hezbul Mujahedeen because they were police informers. The Hezbul Mujahedeen is one of more than a dozen Moslem organizations fighting for independence of the Kashmir valley from India. Police officials also reported the death of one soldier in a militant ambush of an army convoy in the district of Baramulla, northwest of Srinagar. At least three soldiers were injured, they said. The deaths raise to 630 the number of people killed since security forces began a crackdown on the Moslem movement on Jan. 20. The Kashmir valley, most of which falls in the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir, is predominantly Moslem. Jammu-Kashmir is the only Indian state with a Moslem majority. Moslem militants earlier had demanded union with Pakistan, the Islamic nation on India's western border. But, of late, they have been demanding independence and the status of a neutral nation. 
 The estimated 50,000 dead in the Iran earthquake make it the world's fourth deadliest quake in the past half-century. Here is a list of the major quakes of the past 50 years. The location is followed by the Richter scale magnitude and the number of dead. Iran, June 21, 1990, 7.3 to 7.7 on the Richter scale, 50,000 dead (estimated). Soviet Armenia, Dec. 7, 1988, 6.9, 25,000. Iran, Sept. 16, 1978, 7.7, 25,000. China, July 28, 1976, 8.2, 200,000 officially, 800,000 unofficially. Guatemala, Feb. 4, 1976, 7.5, 22,778. Peru, May 31, 1970, 7.7, 66,794. Iran, Aug. 31, 1968, 7.4, 12,000. Iran, Sept. 1, 1962, 7.1, 12,230. Morocco, Feb. 29, 1960, 5.8, 12,000. Soviet Turkmenia, Oct. 5, 1948, (no Richter reading available), 110,000. 
 Americans who rushed to donate money to help victims of the Armenian earthquake 18 months ago are responding more slowly to last week's killer earthquake in Iran. But relief agencies said they expect contributions to pick up. "There's a hierarchy of responsiveness," said Dick Colenso, associate executive director of World Concern, a private relief agency based in Seattle. "Something happens in Europe, there's a very large response, Asia, a pretty good respons down to the Middle East ... thee. When you get dynamics change." Colenso said, however, that contributions will "surge upward" as news spreads of the earthquake's destruction. "As ... you get the disaster translated into the lives of individuals instead of mass numbers, people begin to respond. They relate to that," he said. At least 50,000 people were reported killed and 200,000 injured in the earthquake that struck Thursday. AmeriCares, a private agency based in New Canaan, Conn., brought the first shipment of supplies from the United States into Iran on Sunday. The shipment was the first of its kind to be accepted by Iran since the hostage crisis of 1979-80, when 52 Americans were held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Iran is believede-scale structure in the universe. AWARDS: National Award for Science and Technology, 1978; Chinese Academy of Sciences Award 1982; New York Academy of Sciences Award, 1988. POLITICAL DISSENT: Fang became politically prominent during the pro-democracy student demonstrations of 1986-87. His speeches to students at the University of Science and Technology in Hefei in central China, where he was vice president, helped incite the protests, party hard-liners said. Fang was expelled from the Communist Party in 1957, when he said Marxist theory on physics was obsolete. In 1987, he was fired from his Hefei university posts. In between, in 1966, he was a victim of the Cultural Revolution purges and was sent to a communal farm for "re-education." After the June 4, 1989, military crackdown on the democracy movement, Fang and Li obtained refuge in the U.S. Embassy. 
 A natural substance called transforming growth factor beta appears to be able to limit damage to cardiac cells following a heart attack, according to a study published in the journal Science. In a study at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, a group of laboratory rats induced to have heart attacks suffered 50 percent less cell damage after injections of transforming growth factor beta than did rats that did not receive the TGF beta. "TGF beta is a growth factor that opposes some of the bad guys following a heart attack," said Dr. Allan M. Lefer, a professor at Jefferson. Lefer said his research team simulated heart attacks in 24 rats by partially blocking key arteries in their hearts. In 12 of the rats, the researchers injected a placebo. In the other 12, they injected transforming growth factor beta. For those who received the TGF beta, said Lefer, "the damage from the attack was much less severe. There was about 50 percent less injury with TGF beta than without it." The extent of heart cell damage was determined by measuring the amount of creatine kinase in the heart tissue following an attack. Hearts damaged when the blood supply is interrupted, as in a heart attack, tend to lose creatine kinase, said Lefer. Thus, by measuring for the loss of this substance, researchers could determine the amount of heart damage. Lefer said the TGF beta seems to block the action of other substances, such as tumor necrosis factor, that can cause blood vessels to narrow following a heart attack. Narrowed blood vessels carry less oxygen-rich blood to cells and this causes additional injury following a heart attack. TGF beta is normally present in heart cells, but the study published in Science said that it is missing from rat heart cells damaged by a simulated heart attack. Though TGF beta is produced naturally in the body, Lefer said his research team used a substance produced artificially by Genentech, a California biotechnology firm. Lefer said his team is now conducting additional studies with TGF beta and that any experimental treatment of human heart attack victims with the substance is at least a year away. Jefferson Medical College, where the study was done, is part of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Science, which published the study, is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
 Conductor Leonard Bernstein has canceled several performances in Japan due to exhaustion and lingering illness and will return to the United States to recover, his manager announced today. "Leonard Bernstein is suffering from exhaustion as a result of trying to fulfill his professional obligations while not having fully recovered from several ailments he suffered this spring. Complete rest for an extended period is required if this remarkable man is to regain his usual high energy level," said Dr. Kevin Cahill, the conductor's personal physician. Bernstein, 71, has suffered from severe influenza, pleurisy, and pneumonia since the beginning of the year, Cahill said in a statement released by Harry Kraut, Bernstein's manager. Dr. Angelo Aquista, an associate of Cahill, flew to Japan to accompany the conductor back to New York, it said. Kraut did not provide the time or date of Bernstein's departure. Bernstein had been scheduled to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in four performances in Japan, ending with a concert on July 22. Bernstein issued a separate statement apologizing to his fans and sponsors and saying that he had asked LSO principal conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and Japanese conductor Eiji Oue to fulfill his conducting responsibilities. On Saturday and Sunday, Bernstein canceled appearances with an orchestra of young musicians from the Pacific-Asia region who had been training under principals of the LSO during the three-week Pacific Music Festival in northern Japan. Bernstein inaugurated the festival last month. He started the event along the lines of the Tanglewood music festival in Massachusetts, where young musicians train with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Japan festival is believed to be the first festival in Asia where young musicians can train with a professional orchestra. Kraut's statement said it was not known whether Bernstein would be able to conduct next month at the Tanglewood festival or during the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra Tour in Europe later this summer. 
 The government today imposed direct federal rule in Kashmir, where Indian security forces are battling to put down a rebellion by Moslem separatists. The action follows the killing Tuesday of at least 29 Moslem militants by Indian security forces. In the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, meanwhile, India and Pakistan opened negotiations today aimed at repairing relations threatened by the rebellion in the disputed northern region. Relations between Pakistan and India worsened in January when Indian soldiers cracked down on Moslem militants in Kashmir who are seeking independence from India or union with Pakistan. At least 792 people have been killed in Kashmir since then. India has accused Pakistan of arming and training the militants, a charge Pakistan has denied. Before direct federal rule was imposed today on Jammu-Kashmir state, it was administered temporarily by a governor, a federal representative, since Jan. 18. The announcement of federal rule reflected the belief that Jammu-Kashmir state was too unstable to be run by an elected local government. On Tuesday, at least 29 militants were killed by Indian security forces in Kashmir, the Moslem-dominated northern part of Jammu-Kashmir state and the center of the secessionist campaign. Officials, who cannot be identified under briefing rules, said 21 militants were killed in a battle with the Border Security Force in Poonch, 400 miles northwest of New Delhi. Hours later in the same area, troops killed eight militants who slipped across the border from Pakistan, said the officials. The guards also arrested four militants and seized 14 automatic rifles, two machine guns and two rocket launchers, the officials said. Indian officials maintain that Kashmiri militants regularly cross over to Pakistan through the border and return by the same route after reciving arms training. Pakistan denies it is training or helping the militants, but calls the separatist struggle a fight for self-determination. India and Pakistan have fought two previous wars over Kashmir, in 1948 and 1965. Both were won by India. About 65 percent of Jammu-Kashmir's 6 million people are Moslems, making it India's only Moslem majority state. Nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's 880 million people. Hindus make up 82 percent of the population. Kashmiri separatists earlier demanded union with Pakistan, an Islamic country, but they have recently been fighting for total independence and the status of a neutral country. 
 Indian frontier guards shot and killed 20 Moslem militants and arrested nine others after they sneaked into India-held Kashmir from Pakistan, a senior official said today. The militants were killed late Monday at Kupwara, 56 miles north of Srinagar during gunbattle with Indian guards, said the Kashmir official, who cannot be identified under standing briefing regulations. India, alarmed by a spurt in Moslem separatist activities in Kashmir, has stepped up border patrol to stop alleged infiltration of separatists from Pakistan. A total of 80 Moslem militants have died in frontier incidents in the past week. Indian officials maintain that Kashmiri militants regularly cross over to Pakistan through the porous border and return by the same route after reciving arms training in Pakistan. Pakistan denies it is training or helping the militants, but says it supports the separatism, terming it a fight for self determination. The Kashmir official said the fighting erupted when the militants fired at Indian border guards after crossing over from Pakistan. Indian guards seized 22 AK-47 rifles, three machine guns and 1,425 rounds of ammunitions. Kashmiri separatists are fighting for independence of the Moslem dominated Jammu-Kashmir from the predominantly Hindu India. At least five more Moslem separatists were killed in three separate incidents across Kashmir today. The deaths brought the total number of people killed to at least 863 since Jan. 20, when the government launched a crackdown on the separatists. About 65 percent of Jammu-Kashmir's 6 million people are Moslems, making it India's only Moslem majority state. Nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's 880 million people. Hindus make up 82 percent of the population. Kashmiri separatists earlier demanded union with Pakistan, an Islamic country, but have recently been fighting for total independence and the status of a neutral country. 
 East Germany's deposed Communist leader Erich Honecker is too sick to be held in jail but is fit enough to be tried, the official news agency ADN reported Monday. ADN, quoting a Health Ministry statement, said Honecker was still recovering from surgery for kidney cancer in January and was not well enough to be incarcerated. But a medical exam by a team of doctors found him in condition to be questioned and to stand trial, ADN said. Honecker, 77, ruled East Germany for 19 years until he was ousted in October as a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations swept the country, leading to the peaceful overthrow of the Communist government and the opening of the Berlin Wall. The medical panel concluded that seven other former Communist officials, who had been among Honecker's closest aides, were all fit to prosecute and to be placed in custody, ADN said. It said former secret police chief Erich Mielke, former economics czar Guenter Mittag and former labor chief Harry Tisch were under arrest, while the other four remained free. All three had been members of the ruling Politburo under Honecker. Mielke was arrested on Thursday. Honecker and the seven are charged with corruption and abuse of office. They had been arrested soon after Honecker's fall but were later released because of advanced age and poor health. Honecker has been staying at a Soviet military hospital outside East Berlin. ADN quoted Federal Prosecutor Guenter Seidel as saying he intended to continue his investigation against the former East German leaders, although their poor health often disrupted the proceedings. 
 Kuwaiti and Iraqi negotiators embraced warmly Tuesday as they began talks on their oil and border dispute, sources said. Diplomats reported that Iraq had massed 100,000 troops on Kuwait's border. Gulf-based diplomatic sources said the Iraqi force, triple the number earlier reported, included about 300 Soviet-made tanks, and dwarfed the entire Kuwaiti army of 20,000 troops. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the troops have been concentrated along the border since last week, when Iraq began threatening Kuwait. Iraq accused the small Persian Gulf state of stealing oil from a disputed border region and forcing oil prices to drop. The diplomats said the number of troops was at first difficult to determine. The delegation leaders, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah of Kuwait, and Izzat Ibrahim, deputy chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, met privately for two hours. There were no details on the negotiations, but sources said the meetings will continue Wednesday. Diplomatic sources have said they expect Arab mediators to push the two sides to sign a treaty of non-belligerency to be followed by protracted negotiations on borders and compensation. The Iraq-Kuwait crisis broke out on July 17 when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of driving down oil prices by exceeding quotas set for them by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Saddam said the move cost Iraq $14 billion in lost revenue. Saddam also demanded compensation for the $2.4 billion in oil he claimed Kuwait pumped illegally from an oil field which straddles the unmarked border between the two countries. Iraq also demanded that Kuwait forgive $15 billion in loans it extended to Baghdad during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Iraq's tough talk appeared to have succeeded. Kuwait and the U.A.E agreed to stick to their oil quotas at an OPEC meeting last week. OPEC member states also agreed to a longstanding Iraqi demand to raised target crude oil prices from $18 to $21 a barrel. Kuwaiti and Iraqi officials agreed to meet in Jiddah after intensive mediation efforts by King Fahd and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Kuwaiti leaders had insisted that Iraq pull back its troops before conciliation talks could began, but later dropped that demand. Kuwaiti officials also asked that Iraq agree to demarcate the disputed border between the nations, a move Iraq has refused. Iraq has historically laid claim to all of Kuwait and has long coveted the Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warba, which command access to Iraq's sole outlet into the Persian Gulf. The mediators have succeeded in toning down a vitriolic campaign against Kuwait by the Iraqi state-run media. On Tuesday, the Iraqi delegation left Baghdad without any public announcement. The leading Al-Thawra daily newspaper called the Jiddah meeting "an opportunity ... for Kuwait ... to perceive Iraq's demands and respond to its rights." In contrast, the Kuwaiti delegation left for Jiddah with fanfare and publicity. The Kuwaiti papers said they hoped the Jiddah meeting was the start of "a final just settlement" of the differences between Iraq and Kuwait, in a manner ensuring the "legitimate rights of each." 
 Iraqi troops have launched an offensive against Kuwait, the Kuwaiti embassy said Wednesday night. Faleh Bader, director of the ambassador's office, said, "We confirm there is an offensive at Kuwait border and we have no comment." The attack started about midnight, Kuwaiti time (5 p.m. EDT), Bader said. Earlier in the day, the Iraqi ambassador, Mohamed Al-Mashat, was summoned to the State Department afternoon for a meeting with Assistant Secretary John Kelly. Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Kelly repeated to the Iraqi envoy the U.S. desire for a peaceful solution to the tensions with Kuwait and urged Iraq to respect to sovereignty of all nations in the region. Kelly told a House subcommittee Tuesday that while the United States has no treaty obligations that would mandate military support for Kuwait, the United States does believe strongly in respect for territories of all states in the region. The United States, whose Persian Gulf naval patrols helped Iraq defeat Iran in the 1980-1988 war, has six warships in the area. They have been conducting exercises since July 23 with forces of the United Arab Emirates, some 700 miles southest of Kuwait. Iraq had moved about 100,000 troops to its border with Kuwait after claiming that Kuwait's production of oil beyond quotas of the OPEC cartel had depressed the world price, thus diminishing Iraq's revenue, and that Kuwait had been stealing oil from a field that straddles the border. Iraqi officials on Wednesday walked out on talks in Jiddah, Saudia Arabia aimed at resolving the 2-week-old crisis with neighboring Kuwait and complained that Kuwait was not negotiating seriously. Iraq threatened to invade once before, in 1961 after Britain ended its protectorate over Kuwait. Iraq then claimed Kuwait as part of its territory, but the appearance on the Kuwaiti side of the border of troops from Britain and other Arab states deterred further action by Iraq. 
 Tank-led Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait before dawn Thursday, seizing the ruler's palace and other government buildings, Kuwaiti officials reported., The Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein said the Kuwaiti government had been overthrown. The invasion comes nearly two weeks after Iraq massed troops on Kuwait's border in a dispute over an oilfield and Kuwait's violation of OPEC oil production quotas, which had kept down the price of crude. "The Iraqis have occupied all of Kuwait!" one Kuwaiti official shouted in a telephone interview. "They have seized all administrative buildings, including the information ministry which houses the (state-run) radio and television stations," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Diplomats said about 350 Iraqi tanks wheeled into the capital a few hours after crossing the border 40 miles away before dawn. The invaders, whose forces far outnumber those of smaller Kuwait, were led by the elite Republican Guard that did the brunt of the fighting in the 1980-88 war with Iran. The troops set up roadblocks at major intersections in the capital. The invaders surrounded the palace of the ruler of Kuwait, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, the official said. Residents in the palace's vicinity said it was seized after two hours of heavy artillery barrages. The whereabouts of the emir, whose family has ruled the city-state for almost 250 years, was not immediately known. The bombardment of ports and airports was vicious, eyewitnesses said. Thousands of residents attempted to flee south toward Saudi Arabia in their cars. Kuwait's official radio broadcast a desperate plea for help from other Arab nations. The Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington reported only that there were many casualties in the fighting, which follows a flareup in a protracted dispute over a border oil field, but gave no numbers early Thursday. Residents said there were about 50 tanks around the emir's palace and the neighboring U.S. Embassy. The embassy did no answer its telephones. The British Embassy was hit by shellfire and the Sheraton and Hilton hotels evacuated their clientele, sources said. The air space over Kuwait was closed, with airliners turned away. The Bush administration demanded immediate withdrawal of the Iraqi forces and added that it was "reviewing all options in its response to the Iraqi aggression." U.S. warships have been on "short-term" alert 600 miles southeast of the Iraq-Kuwait border since July 24 because of the tensions in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region, scene of heavy fighting in the Iran-Iraq war. The White House said it had no reports of harm to Americans. The United States has extensive business ties to Kuwait, and the U.S. community in the nation _ slightly smaller than New Jersey _ is sizeable, in the thousands. The White House denounced the incursion, issuing a statement that said, "The United States strongly condemns the Iraqi military invasion of Kuwait ... "We have conveyed this message to the Iraqi ambassador in Washington and to the Iraqi government through our embassy in Baghdad. "We deplore this blatant use of military aggression in violation of the U.N. charter." In New York, U.N. officials said the Security Council was to begin an emergency meeting early Thursday. Reaction was swift elsewhere. The British government said the "armed incursion is clearly a grave threat to peace and stability in the area and of immediate concern to the international community as a whole." The Iraqi action was expected to dominate talks between President Bush and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when they meet later Thursday in Aspen, Colo. Iraqi officials on Wednesday had abruptly walked out on talks in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, complaining that the Kuwaiti representatives were not negotiating seriously. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had intervened beginning July 25 to set up the talks in a bid to cool tensions between the two OPEC members. In Baghdad, Saddam's government announced Thursday that the Kuwaiti government had been toppled. Kuwait radio went off the air briefly, but came back on different wavelenghs with martial music and Kuwaiti patriotic songs. Saddam's ruling council issued a statement from Baghdad saying an interim government had been established in Kuwait but the claim could not be immediately and independently confirmed. "Iraq has responded to the request from interim government of free Kuwait and decided to cooperate with it," the Iraqi statement said. It said the troops _ no numbers were given _ were in Kuwait to defend the revolution and the Kuwaiti people. There was no further identification of the revolutionary government. Iraq warned too that any foreign troops trying to interfere with its actions would be attacked. More than 60 percent of the country's 1.8 million residents are foreigners. Kuwaiti forces had engaged the Iraqi invaders with heavy artillery in a failed attempt to repulse them, government officials contacted by telephone earlier Thursday said. Iraqi, which is the size of California, has an estimated 1 million troops among its 17 million populace, compared to 20,300 members of the Kuwait armed forces. In Baghdad, the official radio interspersed martial music with songs with slogans like, "Greetings to the Revolution in Kuwait." The invasion followed massive troop movements to the south on Wednesday. In Kuwait early Thursday, the rattle of automatic guns sounded and explosions in rapid succession shook local residents from their sleep and the Kuwaiti Cabinet quickly assembled. Residents in downtown Kuwait reported formations of French-made Mirage jet fighters of the Kuwaiti air force taking to the skies in the direction of the border region. The streets were empty; some people on rooftops of their houses reported hearing gunblasts growing in intensity and speed. Moments later army tanks and armored personnel carriers were moving in the direction of the Royal Palace, apparently to reinforce the guards. Kuwait is a former British protectorate that gained independence in 1961. Its residents are among the wealthiest in the world because of the country's vast oil reserves. In Tokyo, the dollar moved sharply higher along with oil prices during morning trading Thursday on news of Iraq's invasion. 
 The British Embassy was hit by shellfire and the Sheraton and Hilton hotels evacuated their clientele, sources said. Swiss charge d'affaires Franco Bessoni said on French radio that the palace was taken after bombardment by Iraqi MiG jet fighters. "You can see black smoke over there .... No one dares to go out. You can hear gunfire. The entire foreign community is staying indoors," he said. "It's chaos, military jets are flying over all the time, Kathy McGregor, a Canadian, said by telephone at about midday. She said she could still hear artillery fire. The air space over Kuwait was closed, with airliners turned away. Iraq also sealed its own borders and airspace. Iraq said in a statement that it had "responded to the request from interim government of free Kuwait and decided to cooperate with it." It said its troops _ no numbers were given _ were in Kuwait to defend the revolution and the Kuwaiti people. There was no further identification of the revolutionary government. Saddam's ruling council also warned that any foreign troops trying to interfere with its actions would be attacked. Kuwaiti forces had engaged the Iraqi invaders with heavy artillery in their failed attempt to repulse them, Kuwaiti officials said earlier. The invaders were led by the elite Republican Guard that did the brunt of the fighting in the 1980-88 war with Iran. Iraq has an estimated 1 million troops _ including reservists _ among its 16 million people, compared to 20,300 troops in Kuwait. Iraqi radio said 15 army divisions were being recalled and ordered all men born between 1960 and 1966 to report to the army within three days. Today's fighting quickly sent oil prices surging in international markets. The price of North Sea Brent crude for September delivery was quoted early today at $22.30 a barrel against Wednesday's London close of $20.40. Iraq, the world's second-largest oil producer, had demanded higher oil prices at last month's OPEC oil cartel meeting in Geneva. Saddam had threatened military action against Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates for exceeding their cartel production quotas and driving crude prices down. OPEC agreed to cut output to boost prices. The invasion came a day after talks between Kuwait and Iraq collapsed in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. Kuwait had apparently refused to bend to Iraqi demands. The crisis began July 17 when Saddam accused Kuwait of trying to wreck the debt-ridden Iraqi economy with oil overproduction and began massing troops on Kuwait's border. He also accused Kuwait of stealing $2.4 billion in oil drilled from the border oil field, Rumailah. Iraq also demanded the Kuwaiti island of Bubiyan, which is opposite Iraq's only outlets to the Persian Gulf. Iraq, which reportedly massed about 100,000 troops at the border on Wednesday, has been engaged in a major defense buildup since Saddam came to power in 1979. But the Iran-Iraq war left it with a foreign debt of about $70 billion. Iraq borrowed $10 billion to $20 billion from Kuwait wants that debt forgiven. In Kuwait early today, the rattle of automatic guns sounded and explosions in rapid succession shook residents from their sleep and the Kuwaiti Cabinet quickly assembled. The Cabinet was holed up at the headquarters of the Supreme Defense Council with telephone and telex links cut off, said official sources. Kuwaiti radio briefly stopped broadcasting, then went back on the air on a different wavelength. A speaker believed to be Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah appealed for Arab support. "Oh Arabs, Kuwait's blood and honor is being violated, rush to its rescue ... the children, the women, the old men of Kuwait are calling on you," the speaker said. Kuwait, nearly the size of New Jersey, is a former British protectorate that gained independence in 1961. Its residents are among the wealthiest in the world because of the country's vast oil reserves. 
 The U.N. Security Council today swiftly condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, demanding an unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops and calling for immediate negotiations between the countries. The Iraqi envoy said his country's troops would withdraw "as soon as the situation is stable," perhaps within "a few days or some weeks." The Security Council resolution was adopted 14-0 in an emergency session requested by the United States and Kuwait hours after today's pre-dawn invasion. Neither Kuwait nor Iraq is on the 15-member council. The representative of Yemen said he did not vote because he had not received instructions from his government. Britain's U.N. envoy, Crispin Tickell, condemned the invasion as an "ugly moment in world affairs." Kuwait is a former British colony. "The United States has made it clear that it will stand shoulder to shoulder with Kuwait in this time of crisis," U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering told the council. "It is our understanding that the present aggression was completely unprovoked." Baghdad radio claimed Iraq had come to the aid of "revolutionary youth in Kuwait" whom it said had toppled the Kuwaiti government. Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Abulhasan, denied the invasion was in response to a call from help from a new government. "The pretext to invade an independent, sovereign state is a false, flimsy pretext," he said. "This kind of pretext, if it's not going to be deterred in a decisive manner and by this august assembly, all international relations will be threatened. No country at all will be safe after this." A statement read by Sabah Talat Kadrat, Iraq's deputy permanant representative said Iraq's forces would withdraw when what it referred to as the "free Kuwaiti interim government" requested it. The Iraqi statement was also reported by the Iraqi News Agency in Baghdad. The Security Council resolution said the council supports all efforts for negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait. It specifically endorsed mediation efforts by the Arab League, which met in emergency session in Cairo today. The Iraqi invasion posed "a breach of international peace and security," the Security Council said. Kadrat said the events were related to an internal matter that was not the council's concern. "The Iraqi government firmly believes and states that Iraq is pursuing no goal or objective and wishes only cordial relations with Kuwait," said Kadrat. "Furthermore, it is the Kuwaitis themselves who will determine their own future and Iraqi forces will withdraw as soon as order has been restored." Members of the 15-member Security Council began gathering at the United Nations shortly after midnight. Diplomats held more than three hours of private consultations before convening the formal meeting. Kuwaiti spokesman Nasser Al-Sabeeh said before the formal meeting that Kuwait wants negotiations with Iraq to be mediated by the Arab League. "But if it's necessary, then we would seek U.N. mediation," he said. Two weeks ago, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq threatened military action with Kuwait over its violation of OPEC oil production ceilings and a disputed border oil field. Saddam also has accused some Persian Gulf nations of conspiring with the United States and Israel to weaken Iraq's economy and undermine its military buildup. Today's resolution was sponsored by Canada, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Finland, France, the United States, Britain and Malaysia. The 15 members of the Security Council are China, Yemen, Romania, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Canada, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Finland, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Zaire. 
 Here are some quotes on Iraq's invasion of Kuwait: "The Iraqi government firmly believes and states that Iraq is pursuing no goal or objective and wishes only cordial relations with Kuwait. Furthermore, it is the Kuwaitis themselves who will determine their own future and Iraqi forces will withdraw as soon as order has been restored." _ Sabah Talat Kadrat, Iraq's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. "The pretext to invade an independent, sovereign state is a false, flimsy pretext. This kind of pretext, if it's not going to be deterred in a decisive manner and by this august assembly, all international relations will be threatened. No country at all will be safe after this." _ Mohammad Abulhasan, Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations. "We remain committed to take whatever actions are necessary to defend our longstanding, vital interests in the (Persian) Gulf." _ President Bush, who said his advisers would "consider all possible options available to us." 
 Iraq's powerful army invaded this small oil-rich kingdom early today. Tank-led troops quickly seized the ruler's palace and government buildings, and the emir fled to Saudi Arabia, Kuwaiti officials said. Kuwait's U.S. ambassador said the Iraqis occupied all government buildings in the capital and were moving south toward the country's oil facilities. He appealed for U.S. military intervention. A Pentagon source said U.S. Navy ships were diverted to the region, but President Bush said the subject of intervention was not being discussed. "The Iraqis have occupied all of Kuwait!" a Kuwaiti government official shouted in a telephone interview. Diplomatic sources in the Persian Gulf estimated that more than 200 Kuwaitis were killed or wounded. The Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein claimed it invaded at the request of revolutionaries who had already staged a coup and established "The Provisional Government of Free Kuwait." Kuwait and U.N. diplomats labeled the coup report a farce. The assault followed two weeks of tension between Kuwait and Iraq, caused by Iraqi accusations that Kuwait stole oil from a disputed border area. Saddam also accused Kuwait of exceeding OPEC production quotas, thus driving down the price of oil, a major Iraqi revenue source. The attack had wide-ranging ramifications: _Oil prices soared $3 a barrel in early trading because of fears the invasion would disrupt supplies. Prices were about $2 higher later. _President Bush signed orders freezing Iraqi assets in the United States and blocking most Iraqi imports, including oil. Oil accounts for 97 percent of Iraqi imports to the United States and makes up about 3.5 percent of U.S. oil consumption. Bush also froze Kuwaiti assets to prevent Iraq from seizing them. _The Soviet Union, Iraq's main arms supplier, halted weapons sales. _The U.N. Security Council voted 14-0 to denounce the invasion and demanded immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops. _A Pentagon source said the aircraft carrier USS Independence, escorted by a six-ship battle group, was diverted from the Indian Ocean toward the gulf, where other U.S. ships were already patrolling. _Secretary of State James A. Baker III planned to fly to Moscow to issue a rare joint statement Friday with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze about the invasion. The plan, which was announced in Washington, illustrates the dramatic improvement in relations between the superpowers, who once routinely lined up on opposite sides of most regional disputes. Kuwait's U.S. ambassador, Sheik Saud Nasir al-Sabah, told reporters in Washington: "We are desperate for any help we can get." He appealed specifically for American intervention. In recent days, diplomats said Iraq had massed more than 100,000 troops at the border. Kuwait's entire armed forces has 20,300 soldiers. Bush said the United States would "take whatever steps necessary" to defend interests in the gulf. Asked if this included military force, Bush said: "We're not discussing intervention." But he said he would not discuss military options publicly. It was the first time in modern history an Arab nation had invaded another and taken over its government. Kuwait's army was no match for Iraq, battle-hardened after eight years of war with Iran. Iraq has emerged as the Arab world's strongest and most militant military power, and Saddam has a vast arsenal of chemical and conventional weapons. Diplomats said about 350 Iraqi tanks wheeled into the capital a few hours after crossing the border 40 miles away at dawn. Witnesses said the bombardment of ports and military airports by artillery and the air force was vicious. The invaders surrounded the palace of Kuwait's ruler, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah. Residents said the palace was seized after about two hours of heavy artillery barrages. Diplomats said Sheik Fahd al-Ahmed al-Sabah, one of the emir's brothers, was killed while trying to defend the palace. There were about 50 tanks around the palace and the neighboring American Embassy, residents said. The al-Sabah family has ruled the city-state for almost 250 years. The Kuwaiti ambassador said the leaders were safe in Saudi Arabia. Operating from an unknown location, al-Ahmed's government responded to the formation of the provisional government by stating: "Kuwait is Kuwait to its people, let by the emir, Sheik Jaber, and his Crown Prince Sheik Saad. God preserve them from all harm." For its part, the provisional government announced through Baghdad's official Iraqi News Agency that it was dissolving parliament and would hold "free and honest elections" at a future date. The Iraqi forces were led by the elite Republican Guard, which did the brunt of fighting in the Iran-Iraq war. Troops set up roadblocks at major intersections and shot at cars that did not stop. Baghdad television said Iraq qould withdraw its forces within days or weeks, depending on how quickly the situation stabilized. Kuwait's land and sea borders were closed, as was the airport. Diplomats said the invasion was too swift to arrange the evacuation of nationals, and foreigners were asked to keep a low profile. There are about 4,000 Americans among the large expatriate community in Kuwait, where more than 60 percent of the 1.8 million residents are foreigners. U.S. officials monitoring the situation had no reports of harm to U.S. citizens in Iraq, White House spokesman Roman Popadiuk said. Foreigners reached by telephone said they watched from their windows or dived for cover as the invasion began. "We were totally unprepared," said Catherine Baker of Illinois. "One feels like there should have been a bit of warning." The British Embassy was hit by shell-fire and the Sheraton and Hilton hotels evacuated their clientele, the diplomats said. The invasion came hours after Iraq broke off talks intended to mend its differences with Kuwait. Iraqi first threatened military action against its former ally Kuwait two weeks ago. Washington declared its support for Kuwait from the start. During the Iran-Iraq war, American ships protected U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tankers from attacks in the gulf. 
 An emergency Arab League Council failed to publicly condemn Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on Thursday and adjourned its meeting for 24 hours as Arab leaders held urgent consultations on how to handle the crisis. Kuwait's Cabinet affairs minister, Abdel-Rahman el-Awadi told reporters he asked the 21-nation Arab League to condemn the attack. He accused Iraq of using the "laws of the jungle." President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Hussein met in Alexandria and telephoned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, President Bush, Saudi King Fahd and Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh on the crisis. Hussein later left for home. Sources close to the Arab League Council said its members agreed to convene an emergency Arab summit but decided to leave the when and where up to Arab leaders. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity. The Council meeting of foreign ministers was convened in Cairo at Kuwaiti request hours after Iraqi military forces took over the small Persian Gulf state. Some member nations sent lower-level representatives. Following its evening session, attended by Saadoon Hamadi, a member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Council, Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-Meguid of Egypt told reporters the Council would meet again Friday. Saddam promised Mubarak two weeks ago that he would not invade Kuwait in their oil dispute. At Thursday's closed session, Hamadi reiterated Iraq's claim its forces entered Kuwait at the request of a Kuwaiti revolutionary group that had overthrown the government. A conference source said several Arab foreign ministers replied that "they considered this to be an Iraqi invasion which is against all United Nations and Arab League conventions." So far, only Lebanon's prime minister and foreign minister, Salim Hoss, has joined Kuwait in Cairo in publicly condemning the invasion _ the first time in modern history one Arab country invaded another to take control of the government. Hoss told reporters, "We do not see any justification for what happened, whatever the arguments and pretexts." The invasion was denounced by the United States and other Western nations and by the Soviet Union. The Arab League Council met early Thursday and then adjourned to await the arrival of Hamdoon. Iraq's ambassador to Egypt, Nabil Najm, sat in until Hamdoon arrived. "The United Nation's Security Council has condemned the invasion and the issue is now being discussed within the framework of the Arab League and we hope that it will issue a condemnation within the hour and that Arabs stand against this invasion," Kuwait's Awadi said. "Arab leaders must take the initiative and stop this bloodshed and return things to their normal situation. We also call on Iraq to withdraw its troops." Hamadi told reporters upon arrival, "I see this meeting as unnecessary ... There is no government presently in Kuwait. There is a group which started the revolution and which will reveal itself shortly." His comments were carried by the Middle East News Agency. MENA said Kuwait invoked the 1950 Arab joint defense pact and asked the Arab League Council to dispatch a joint Arab force to "defend Kuwait against the invasion." In the event of military aggression against any League member, the pact all members, to "take, individually and collectively, all steps available, including the use of armed force, to repel the aggression and restore security and peace." The ministers were in Cairo to attend the Organization of Islamic Conference's foreign ministers meeting. All Arab League members also belong to the Islamic conference. 
 Iraq says it invaded Kuwait at the request of a revolutionary organization there, but diplomats dismiss that rationale as a large-scale charade. The diplomatic world has remained largely unconviced by the flood of statements issued from Iraq in the name of the Provisional Free Kuwait Government. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Crispin Tickell, called the Iraqi action "an invasion from the outside ... a phony coup d'etat from within." He said the invasion had led to "the purported establishment of a puppet government." In a rare display of solidarity, the United States and the Soviet Union called for Iraq to withdraw and imposed sanctions. The U.N. Security Council voted 14-0 to condemn the invasion. But Iraq's deputy permanent U.N. representative, Sabah Talat Kadrat, said the Security Council should not be debating the issue, because the fall of the Kuwaiti Emir, Sheik Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, was an internal matter. The official Kuwait News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, did not issue a single story all day. Its computer periodically sputtered out the phrase "Line cut." On the other hand, state-run Iraqi News Agency from Baghdad came alive with a series of communiques from the "provisional government." The members were not identified. The first statement said the provisional government "finds that one of its primordial obligations is to remedy the harm done by the deposed, corrupt government to our brothers in Iraq." Iraq has been feuding with Kuwait over a border dispute. It has also accused Kuwait of violating its oil production quotas set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, costing Iraq of much-needed revenues because oil is cheaper when supplies are higher. The statement on the Iraqi News Agency said the border dispute would be settled with "fraternity and Arab national interests," indicating Iraq would probably take the land it wants. The statement also said the Al-Sabah family, which had ruled Kuwait for almost 250 years, was working in concert with Zionist and colonial powers to plot against Iraq. That is the charge the Iraqi press leveled at Kuwait when tensions began to rise in mid-July. "Falsification of elections, authoritarianism, persecution of patriotic personalities have always been characteristics of the Al-Sabah family," the statement said. Kuwait is one of the few Arab states that has experimented with a freely elected parliament. A new National Council with 50 members voted into office and 25 appointed by the emir took office after June elections. The communiques from the Iraqi News Agency said the National Council has been disbanded. 
 THE INVASION: Iraq's troops, led by about 350 tanks, crossed the border at dawn Thursday, and seized the Kuwaiti palace and government buildings 40 miles away. Early Friday, the invaders controlled Kuwait city, the capital. The soldiers were also making sweeps through the southern oilfields, according to residents and Lloyds' insurance service in London. Diplomatic sources estimate more than 200 Kuwaitis were killed or wounded, mainly from the Emiri Guard which bore the main brunt of the invasion. Kuwait's Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah fled to safety in Saudi Arabia. THE FORCES: Iraq, a country of more than 17 million, has the Arab world's most battle-trained army, and had massed more than 100,000 soldiers on the Kuwaiti border. Kuwait, an oil-rich city-state, has 1.9 million residents _ 60 percent foreigners _ and an army of 20,300 soldiers. CAUSE OF CONFLICT: President Saddam Hussein of Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing oil from its territory and forcing down oil prices through overproduction. Kuwait and U.N. diplomats dismissed Iraq's claim that it invaded at the request of Kuwaiti revolutionaries. REACTION: The U.N. Security Council voted 14-0 to condemn the invasion. President Bush denounced it as "naked agression." He froze Iraq's assets in the United States and blocked almost all Iraqi imports, including oil. The order also froze Kuwait property under U.S. jurisdiction _ a move intended to keep Iraq from seizing it. The Soviets also condemned the invasion and stopped arms sales to Iraq. Kuwait's U.S. ambassador said the nation had asked for American military intervention. A Pentagon source said a U.S. naval group was diverted toward the Persian Gulf. Oil prices soared in frenzied trading amid fears the invasion would reduce the supply of oil. 
 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein seemed determined to solve his financial problems and fulfill territorial ambitions by dethroning the government of neighboring Kuwait. The invasion, unprecedented in modern Arab history, reflected the brutality Saddam has used to crush all opposition at home since coming to power in 1979. The sentence for criticizing Saddam is death, and the president considered Kuwait's oil overproduction and the subsequent fall in the price of oil a personal affront to Iraq. "Iraqis will not forget the saying that cutting necks is better than cutting means of living. Oh God Almighty, be witness that we have warned them," he said last month after prices tumbled below $14 per barrel. He accused Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of costing Iraq $14 billion in lost oil revenue by ignoring their quotas assigned by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. He also accused Kuwait of stealing $2.4 billion by pumping oil from a disputed field that straddled their border, and demanded that Kuwait write off an estimated $15 billion it loaned Iraq during the Persian Gulf war. Saddam was reported to be incensed that Kuwait was demanding repayment for the wartime loans. Saddam said he fought the war to protect the Arabs from the fundamentalist revolution fomented by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Persian, mainly Shiite Moslem Iran. Never mind that Iraq started the war in 1980 by invading Iran after a series of border skirmishes along the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, Iraq's only outlet to the Gulf. Despite claims that the war was an unprecedented victory, the long conflict stalled Iraq's development, dragging on for eight years. It has still not formally ended. The war bills kept the government from delivering material benefits promised to the Iraqi people directly after the war. The 1990 budget slashed funds for imports and Iraqis were told to brace for another year of austerity. Private investment has failed to take hold. Iraq ended the war an estimated $70 billion in debt. Its main gulf port of Basra is still blocked and its oil infrastructure damaged. Tens of thousands of Iraqi prisoners of war languish in Iranian prisons and an estimated 500,000 Iraqis were killed or wounded. Despite its puny size, Kuwait's oil reserves almost match Iraq's 100 billion barrels. By controlling Kuwait, Saddam could help solve the financial hangover from the Persian Gulf war and fulfill Iraq's longstanding wish for more gulf coastline. Iraq's 100,000 troops massed at the border in the past few weeks were believed part of a pressure campaign to make Kuwait capitulate to Iraq's demands. But Kuwait's pledge two weeks ago to obey new OPEC quotas and Saddam's promise to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that he would not invade lulled the Arab world into the sense the crisis was over. Homage to the cause of Arab unity has been paramount in Middle East politics since postwar independence from colonial powers. Although a civil war in Yemen in the 1960s brought Egyptian and Saudi Arabian intervention on opposing sides, no Arab state has ever directly deposed the government of a fellow Arab League member. Despite Iraqi claims that it is helping internal opposition liberate Kuwait, it has long coveted the tiny emirate. The Iraqi government refused to recognize its independence in 1961 and threatened to attack then, but backed down when Britain landed troops in Kuwait. The invasion shook Kuwait's neighbors along the Gulf. It proved the decade-old Gulf Cooperation Council that groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait was toothless. The GCC did not issue a statement, much less implement its mutual defense treaty. While Iraq was unlikely to invade Saudi Arabia, it could use the precedent of Kuwait to browbeat its neighbors on local policy issues. Bombing an oil field would be a sufficient reminder of what happened to Kuwait when it balked at Iraqi demands. Also in a region entirely ruled by absolute monarchs, the fall of one makes the rest feel extremely vulnerable. In a series of bellicose statements in recent months, Saddam has sought to focus domestic attention outside Iraq. In March he threatened to burn half of Israel with Iraq's chemical weapons _ banned under international law _ if Iraq was attacked. It was a popular stance among Arabs frustrated with the lack of progress toward peace and a Palestinian nation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Then Britain arrested several people on charges they were smuggling nuclear triggers into Baghdad. Weeks later, police in Europe impounded what they said was parts to a supergun capable of firing chemical or nuclear shells into Israel. Saddam cried foul, claiming the West was trying to wreck the scientific progress of the Arabs. Saddam has sought to inherit the mantle of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nassar as the leader of the Arab world. His relentless personality cult has dubbed him "The Knight of the Arabs." For Kuwait on Thursday, he was a dark knight. Asked the reason for the invasion, Kuwait's ambassador to Washington Sheik Saud Nasir Al-Sabah said at a news conference: "Ambition. Hegemony. Control of the whole area. There is not any reason for it." 
 Here is a brief chronology in the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over oil production and their common border. July 17 _ Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accuses Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of flooding the oil market and driving prices down, and that the move cost Iraq $14 billion in lost oil revenue. He further charges that Arab states in the Persian Gulf are conspiring with the United States and Israel to weaken Iraq's economy and undermine its military buildup. July 18 _ Iraq accuses Kuwait of stealing $2.4 billion worth of oil from wells along the disputed border with Iraq and of seeking to wreck Iraq's economy by overproducing oil and thus pushing down prices. July 20 _ Kuwaiti officials suggest Iraq's sudden outburst of belligerence is aimed at getting its creditors _ including Kuwait _ to write off billions of dollars in debts from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. July 24 _ The U.S. Defense Department announces that U.S. Navy warships and aircraft are holding a "short-notice exercise" in the Persian Gulf with the United Arab Emirates, about 600 miles southeast of the Kuwait-Iraqi border. Kuwait reinstates a state of alert it declared July 16 and canceled after three days of tension between the two oil-producing countries. July 25 _ The Iraqi government in Baghdad says that it will not be intimidated by U.S. pressure in its oil dispute with neighboring Kuwait, and Saddams summons the U.S. ambassador for talks. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt says Iraq and Kuwait plan to meet in Saudi Arabia in an effort to resolve their dispute. July 26 _ OPEC ministers in Geneva agree to halt overproduction in hopes of pushing up the price of crude oil. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates pledge to abide by the agreement. Analysts say Saddam clearly influenced the outcome of the meetings. July 31 _ Kuwaiti and Iraqi delegations meet in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to negotiate the oil and border dispute. Diplomats say Iraq has massed 100,000 troops on Kuwait's border, more than triple the number originally estimated. That number dwarfs the Kuwaiti army, which has a total of about 20,000 troops. Aug. 1 _ Iraq pulls out of talks on the 2-week-old border, oil and money dispute with Kuwait shortly before it sends its forces to invade the oil-rich sheikdom. Aug. 2 _ Iraq's powerful army overruns Kuwait before dawn with tank-led troops quickly seized the ruler's palace and other government buildings. 
 Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich ally of Kuwait, has been subdued in its reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The only direct Saudi statement since the invasion was made by an anonymous government spokesman through the official Saudi Press Agency the day after the Iraqi move. It did not condemn Thursday's invasion. It said Saudi Arabia was following the Kuwait situation "with extreme concern" and that King Fahd would be seeking to calm the situation and to find a solution "in a manner ensuring the interests of all." The only tangible help Saudi Arabia gave the Kuwait government was to shelter members of the ruling family, including the emir, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, and his crown prince. Both nations are tightly run by royal families. The Saudis also allowed them briefly to operate a radio, reportedly from a mobile van in the area around the Saudi-Kuwait border. It broadcast calls for resistance to the Iraqis. But on Friday the radio went off the air after a desperate call: "The people of Kuwait appeal to you oh brethren, oh Arabs, oh beloved brothers, oh Moslems, rush, rush to their help." It was not known if the radio had been discovered by the Iraqis or shut down by the Saudis to avoid provoking Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at a time when fears were being expressed that he might invade Saudi Arabia as well. Oil executives said Saudi Arabia has not and will not take the most potent action possible against Iraq _ closing the pipeline that carries Iraqi oil for export across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. The executives said the Saudis realize this would give the belligerent Saddam an excuse to attack and occupy the Saudi oil fields 150 miles south of Kuwait, giving Iraq control of more oil than any other country in the world. Turkey also has refused to comment about President Bush's suggestion that Turkey cut off Iraq's oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Two parallel pipelines pump Iraqi crude oil to a terminal at Yumurtalik at the eastern corner of Turkey's Mediterranean coast and constitute Iraq's major oil export outlet. The Saudis did condemn the invasion as part of a joint statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council, in which it is allied for economic and security cooperation with Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The six states issued a statement saying, "We strongly condemn and are very sorry for this attack that one Arab state took against another Arab state. ... We do not recognize anything resulting from it." Iraq's huge armed force is clearly too much for the joint 3,000-man Gulf Cooperation Council force, based at Hafr al-Baten in northeastern Saudi Arabia 65 miles south of Kuwait. But there was no talk of specific action against Iraq by Kuwait's partners. Saudi Arabia was also one of the 14 members of the 21-member Arab League that condemned the invasion in the same terms as the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Arab League, with one-third of its members voting against the resolution or abstaining, was clearly unable to take any direct action. 
 Saudi Arabia has been subdued in its reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which places Iraqi forces near the oil-rich kingdom's border. Oil executives said Saudi Arabia has not and will not take the most potent action possible against Iraq _ closing the pipeline that carries Iraqi oil for export across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. The executives said the Saudis believe this would give Iraq's belligerent president, Saddam Hussein, an excuse to attack and occupy Saudi oil fields 150 miles south of Kuwait, giving Iraq control of more oil than any other country in the world. The only direct Saudi statement since the invasion was made by an anonymous government spokesman through the official Saudi Press Agency the day after the Iraqi move. The statement said Saudi Arabia was following the Kuwait situation "with extreme concern" and that King Fahd would be seeking to calm the situation and to find a solution "in a manner ensuring the interests of all." The statement did not condemn the invasion. The only tangible help Saudi Arabia gave the Kuwaiti government in the wake of the invasion was to shelter members of the ruling family, including the emir, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, and the crown prince. Both nations are tightly run by royal families and have been close allies. The Saudis also allowed the Kuwaiti royal family to briefly operate a radio, reportedly from a mobile van, in the area around the Saudi-Kuwait border. But Friday the radio went off the air after a desperate call: "The people of Kuwait appeal to you oh brethren, oh Arabs, oh beloved brothers, oh Moslems, rush, rush to their help." It was not known if the radio had been discovered by the Iraqis or shut down by the Saudis to avoid provoking Saddam at a time when fears were being expressed that he might invade Saudi Arabia as well. Saudi Arabia borders Kuwait and Iraq's invasion forces were reportedly near the Saudi border. The Saudis did condemned the invasion as part of a joint statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council, in which it is allied with Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The six states issued a statement saying, "We strongly condemn and are very sorry for this attack that one Arab state took against another Arab state. ... We do not recognize anything resulting from it." Iraq's 1-million-member armed forces is clearly too much for the joint 3,000-member Gulf Cooperation Council force or Saudi Arabia's 65,700-member army. Saudi Arabia was also one of the 14 members of the 21-member Arab League that condemned the invasion in the same terms as the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Arab League, with one-third of its members voting against the resolution or abstaining, was clearly unable to take any direct action. Turkey has also refused to take action and has not commented about President Bush's suggestion that it cut off Iraq's oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Two parallel pipelines pump Iraqi crude oil to a terminal at Yumurtalik at the eastern corner of Turkey's Mediterranean coast and constitute Iraq's major oil export outlet. 
 The radio of Kuwait's new Iraqi-installed government claimed that Iraqi troops began pulling out of Kuwait on Sunday, but the United States said it doubted a withdrawal was really under way. The radio announcement came three days after Iraq invaded Kuwait and one day after Baghdad said it had replaced the oil-rich kingdom's ousted monarchy with a new government made up of nine Kuwaiti army offices. Iraq also said Saturday that it was creating a new Kuwaiti army and that 100,000 Iraqis, the approximate number of soldiers Baghdad took over Kuwait with, had volunteered for the new military force. In other developments: _The White House continued to seek the immediate and unconditional withdrawl of all Iraqi troops, and it thanked the many nations who have condemned the invasion and imposed economic sanctions on Baghdad. _After several days of debate, Japan on Sunday banned all oil imports from Iraq and Kuwait and halted Japanese exports to both countries. Tokyo said it would suspend all loans to Iraq and Kuwait, ban Japanese investment there, and freeze Iraqi assets in Japan. Japan, which imports 99 percent of its oil, had relied on Iraq and Kuwait for more than 11 percent of its oil imports. The White House hailed Japan's move and said Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu called President Bush on Sunday at Camp David to inform him about the sanctions. _Although tens of thousands of Iraqi troops reportedly remained massed near Kuwait's border with Saudi Arabia, Washington said on Sunday there was no indication that any soldiers had moved into Saudi Arabia. _The White House said that 11 American oil workers rounded up after the invasion had been brought to Baghdad, talked with U.S. Embassy officials, and were in good shape. It said that accounts for all missing Americans. _An unconfirmed report said a warplane from the deposed emir's air force in Kuwait bombed an Iraqi military headquarters near Kuwait city. It was not clear where the plane came from or whether its reported attack caused any damage. The radio of Kuwait's new government, monitored in Bahrain, quoted its "military correspondent" as saying the pullout began at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT). Iraqi President Saddam Hussein allowed reporters based in Baghdad to be taken south to Basra overnight to observe the first Iraqi troops return home. But at the White House, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said on Sunday morning: "We have no independent or confirmable information on this report (of the withdrawl beginning). Saddam Hussein's actions in the past have raised serious skepticism about his intentions." Iraq declared earlier that the provisional government installed by Baghdad is capable of ensuring security in the occupied country. Baghdad television has said the new government is headed by Col. Ala Hussein Ali and that he holds the positions of prime minister, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, minister of defense and interior minister. The other eight members were lieutenant colonels and majors. But Kuwait's embassy in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday dismissed the new government as "a list of fake names" and said Ali is Saddam's son-in-law. A similar report appeared in one of Cairo's leading newspapers, Al-Ahram. It quoted the Kuwait Embassy in Tunis which said that Ali works with Saddam's administration in Baghdad. The Iraqi news agency carried a Kuwait-datelined statement it said was from the provisional government, denying any of its members were Iraqis. In Jordan, Prime Minister Mudar Badran said his nation will not recognize the new government because that would hinder Arab efforts to end the conflict. U.S., French and British warships, meanwhile, steamed toward the Persian Gulf. President Bush said Friday that if Iraq moved against Saudi Arabia it would be attacking U.S. "vital interests." On Saturday, Bush said in Washington that the use of force in resolving the crisis remains an option. Saudi Arabia ships 1.2 million barrels of oil to the United States daily. Fitzwater said on Sunday that there was no indication Iraqi forces had moved into Saudi Arabia, even though tens of thousands of them have been reported to be within 5 to 10 miles of the Saudi border. In Washington, Iraqi ambassador Mohammed al-Mashat on Saturday denied U.S. and other foreign reports suggesting that Iraq plans to invade Saudi Arabia. Saddam ordered the invasion of Kuwait after accusing it of stealing oil from a field that straddles their disputed border. He also blamed Kuwait for a fall in oil prices that cost Iraq $14 billion, saying it contributed to the oil glut by cheating on its OPEC oil cartel production quotas. 
 UNITED NATIONS _ The United States urged other U.N. members at talks Sunday to impose broad economic and military sanctions on Iraq. Western diplomats said the world body is expected to adopt the measures. Should the U.N. Security Council impose comprehensive sanctions, it would be the first time since 1967 it has taken such action against a member state. The last time such sanctions were imposed was against the white minority government of Rhodesia. Western diplomats said they expected up to 14 positive votes on the 15-member council for sanctions against Iraq. They said they expected no vetoes, allowing the legally binding measure to be adopted, probably on Monday. They said Cuba was the holdout. U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering told reporters after closed-door talks Sunday that the council discussed "the absolute necessity of moving ahead toward a broad resolution of sanctions." He said he expected a vote Monday. Pickering said the United States had circulated six or seven drafts of a detailed resolution. It calls for an embargo on Iraq's oil exports, an embargo on imports to Iraq, and a halt to all arms and other military supplies for Iraq. British Ambassador Crispen Tickell told reporters later that he detected "strong support, with the exception of one member, for action and a vote tomorrow." Speaking of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Canadian Ambassador L. Yves Fortier declared, "This madman must be stopped." Cuban envoy Ricardo Alarcon said Cuba would vote for sanctions against Iraq only if the council imposed sanctions on South Africa for occupying Namibia, Israel for occupying Palestinian territories and the United States for invading Panama. In Kuwait, the Iraqi-installed provisional government, in a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency, told other countries to refrain from taking "punishing measures" against it or Iraq. The provisional government said countries "have to remember they have interests and citizens in Kuwait." Kuwait's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan told reporters that the Iraqi-installed government was employing "pure blackmail" by saying it could not ensure the safety of foreigners if their governments support sanctions. In Aspen, Colo., British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher renewed her call for the United Nations to apply a total economic embargo against Iraq unless it withdraws immediately from Kuwait. "Iraq's invasion of Kuwait defies every principle for which the U.N. stands. If we let it succeed, no small country can ever feel safe again. The law of the jungle takes over," she said, in remarks at the Aspen Institute. The U.N. role in the Iraq-Kuwait crisis assumed increasing importance after divided Arab nations cancelled an emergency summit on the invasion. On Thursday, the Security Council condemned Iraq's invasion, demanded immediate and unconditional troop withdrawal, and threatened to impose sanctions if Iraq did not pull out. Sunday's session was scheduled after weekend meetings of the council's five permanent members _ the United States, the Soviet Union, China, Britain and France _ and between the United States and representatives of the Non-Aligned Movement. They are the nations with the power to veto proposals. The United States contends that stiff sanctions by a united international front are necessary to punish Iraq and to force it to withdraw from Kuwait, which was invaded Thursday. 
 Ruling party members said today that the government, fearing a U.S. air attack, was distributing automatic weapons to tens of thousands of supporters and preparing to evacuate the Iraqi capital. A boycott of Iraqi oil forced Baghdad today to close one of two pipelines in Turkey that were pumping the bulk of Iraq's exported oil, Turkish officials said. A British official said Iraqi troops rounded up American and British visitors in Kuwait and taking them to Iraq. The Foreign Office spokesman said most were passengers from a British Airways flight stranded in Kuwait since the Iraqi invasion Thursday. "There is no evidence that they are in any way in trouble," the official said. Saudi Arabia was reported reinforcing its troops along the Kuwaiti border following concerns Iraq may try to invade it. Pentagon sources said the USS Independence and its carrier battle group are now on station in the Arabian Sea, a position that would allow it to launch fighter planes into the Persian Gulf region. Gulf-based diplomats said soldiers from the American rapid deployment force, formed to react to crises in the Middle East, had been dispatched to the area. In other developments: _The new Kuwait government installed by Iraq hinted it might take hostages or seize property of nations that take punitive measures against Iraq. _Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the 100,000 soldiers who invaded Kuwait began to pull back Sunday. President Bush said Iraq was lying. _Oil prices jumped more than $3 a barrel on news Europe and Japan were joining the embargo of Iraqi oil. Stocks slumped worldwide. _Hospital officials said at least 300 Kuwaiti and Iraqi soldiers were killed during the invasion. In London, Kuwaitis arriving on a special plane said 700 Kuwaitis died. The embargo of Iraqi oil grew over the weekend to include Japan and the European Community. Along with the United States, they bought more than half Iraq's exported oil, with most of it pumped through Turkey. An official of the state-run Turkish pipeline company BOTAS said pumping stopped at one of the two Turkish pipelines at 5 p.m. Iraq reduced flow in the second, wider, pipeline to 70 percent of capacity, they said. There was no comment from Iraq. The two pipelines pump Iraqi crude from Kirkuk oil fields in northern Iraq to a terminal at the northeastern tip of the Mediterranean. They carry 70 million tons of crude annually, providing the outlet for the major share of Iraqi exports. The BOTAS official said all the countries participating in the embargo purchase their Iraqi crude from the Turkish outlet. Iraq also exports oil through a Saudi Arabian pipeline and via tankers in the northern Persian Gulf. A Foreign Office spokesman said today as saying a total of 366 people had been assembled by Iraqi troops in Kuwait, mostly passengers from a stranded British Airways flight. They were being transported by bus to the Iraqi border. Baghdad did not give any reason for its action. Immediately after the invasion Thursday, 11 Americans were rounded up by Iraqi troops. They turned up safe in Baghdad. The new Iraqi-installed foreign minister of Kuwait, Lt. Col. Walid Sa'oud Mohammed Abdullah, warned against further sanctions in a statement broadcast Sunday by Iraqi radio. "Countries that resort to punitive measures against the provisional free Kuwait government and fraternal Iraq should remember that they have interests and nationals in Kuwait," he said. Iraqi soldiers invaded Kuwait after complaining that its violation of OPEC production quotas was driving down world crude prices, lowering Iraqi oil revenues. Saddam also accused Kuwait of stealing oil from a field that includes land both sides claim. The respected Middle East Economic Survey reported today that Kuwait's oil export facilities had been shut down. It also said there was considerable doubt Saudi Arabia, with the world's largest oil reserves, would be willing to make up the potential world oil shortage. Kuwait and Iraq together account for one-fifth of the 23.5 million barrels produced daily by the 13 OPEC nations. Tensions remained high in the region; a U.S. official said in Washington that Iraqi troops massed on the Kuwaiti-Saudi border were apparently digging in. An American technician at a secret Saudi Arabian base said the kingdom had sent 200 to 300 tanks toward its border with Kuwait. Oil industry sources in Saudi Arabia reached by telephone from Bahrain said Saudi troops were entering the region of Khafji, near the border. Residents reached by telephone reported intense air activity near the Saudi airport overnight. The Washington Post reported today that Egypt was mobilizing some elements of its armed forces to assist Saudi Arabia in the event of an invasion. U.S. officials said there was no indication Iraqi troops were preparing to invade Saudi Arabia. But Bush sent Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to the kingdom to confer with its leaders, and the White House said Secretary of State James A. Baker would go this week to Turkey. Saadi Mehdi Saleh, the Iraqi army commander, was quoted by the Al-Iraq newspaper as saying tens of thousands of volunteers had joined the army to defend what he called "Iraq and the revolution in Kuwait." Americans, he was quoted as saying, "should understand that the people of the great leader Saddam Hussein cannot be frightened." Local members of the ruling Baath party said preparations were under way to evacuate all of Baghdad's 4 million people to camps outside the city. They were being told that the U.S. Air Force might attack or that Israel might attack with chemical or nuclear weapons. The party members also said the party had distributed guns, mainly AK-47 automatic rifles, to tens of thousands of people around the country. State radio said Saddam had ordered the formation of 11 new Iraqi army divisions, expected to generate 100,000 troops. The Arab world's most formidible military force is already estimated at 1 million men. At a border checkpoint 30 miles south of the Iraqi port city of Basra, dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks carrying hundreds of soldiers crossed back into Iraq on Sunday. But thousands of Iraqi soldiers remained behind in Kuwait, controlling major government buildings, commerical centers and ports. Diplomats in the region said a new Kuwaiti army fanned out through Kuwait. The force comprises about 80,000 troops, mostly Iraqis. The nine-member Kuwaiti military government, announced by Iraq on Saturday, remained a mystery. No photographs of the named leaders have been shown and 12 reporters brought to Kuwait by the Ministry of Information could not locate any of them. Kuwaiti diplomats said they were all Iraqis, including a son-in-law of Saddam, a charge official Iraqi media denied. 
 The U.N. Security Council today overwhelmingly approved sweeping trade and military sanctions against Iraq, including a ban on oil purchases, to punish Baghdad for invading Kuwait. The vote was 13-0, with two abstentions by Cuba and Yemen on the 15-member council, which adopted the sanctions resolution proposed by the United States. It said Iraq had launched an armed attack against Kuwait and usurped the authority of Kuwait's legitimate government. The sanctions were intended to force Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait and the resolution bans "the import into their territories of all commodities and products originating in Iraq or Kuwait and exported there from after the date of this resolution." President Bush praised the decision and called for "full and total implementation of these sanctions, ruling out nothing at all." He told reporters at the White House: "The will of nations around the world will be to enforce these sanctions." It was the third time in its 45-year existence that the world body had voted sanctions against a member state. The last time was 1967 when the Security Council voted similar, comprehensive sanctions against the white minority government of Rhodesia. An arms embargo against South Africa still is in effect. The sanctions are legally binding for all member nations, although past council resolutions have often been ignored or flouted. The United Nations has no enforcement mechanism but later could call on members to take military action against Iraq or impose a blockade. The vote followed similar sanctions imposed on Iraq by much of the West, including the United States, Japan and the European Community. The Soviet Union and China said they would halt arms shipments to Iraq. In a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency on Sunday, the Iraqi-installed military government of Kuwait warned other nations not to take "punishing measures" against it or Iraq. The provisional government said countries "have to remember they have interests and citizens in Kuwait." The U.N. role in the Iraq-Kuwait crisis assumed increasing importance after divided Arab nations canceled a weekend emergency summit on the invasion. In an emergency session just hours after Thursday's invasion, the Security Council condemned Iraq's invasion, demanded immediate and unconditional troop withdrawal, and called for negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait. The council threatened to impose sanctions if Iraq did not comply. The council includes the five permanent members with veto power _ the United States, Britain, China, France and the Soviet Union. The 10 non-permanent members are: Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Finland, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Romania, Yemen and Zaire. 
 Iranian editorial writers are rejoicing now that the world is waking up to one of their most hated bogeymen: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. A Monday headline: "We warned you Frankenstein would torment his own creators." Saddam attacked Iran in September 1980 after a series of border skirmishes, spawning a war that dragged until an August 1988 cease-fire. The conflict has still not formally ended. Iran's late fundamentalist patriarch, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, vowed for years to unseat Saddam. Never at a loss for a vivid phrase, he compared accepting the cease-fire with Saddam to drinking poison. The status of Great Satan was reserved for the United States, the all-encompassing public enemy No. 1 for the Islamic Republic. Iran frequently accuses both the U.S. and Saddam of trying to undermine the Islamic revolution. Saddam conveniently boasts of having alone staunched the tide of radical Islam. In fact one of his reasons for invading Kuwait on Thursday, the Iraqi press noted, was its gall in demanding back tens of billions of dollars loaned to Iraq during the war Saddam says he fought for all Arabs. Over the past six months, successful U.N.-sponsored efforts toward face-to-face negotiations between Iraq and Iran robbed Iranian newspapers and television commentators of a favorite target. Saddam's overthrow of the emir of Kuwait changed all that. Old scores came brimming to the surface. Kuwait, after all, reflagged tankers in the United States during the Iran-Iraq war, ushering in the reason for the arrival of the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf in force. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency printed excerpts Mondya of an editorial from the Ettela'at newspaper that was headlined: "Foster child turns rapaciously on nourisher Kuwait." It noted that Kuwait had blindly supported Iraq, "little knowing that it was feeding a wild beast in her own neighborhood." Saddam has also been called generalissimo and The Invader. Under the Frankenstein headline, IRNA said in its own commentary: "For the time being, tiny Kuwait ... breathes no more. With its sheikh a stateless person, and its powerful dinar which bankrolled the Iraqi military mere garbage, Kuwait is a nonentity, swallowed up by the dangerous pet it reared." Despite all the attention to the dangerous pet, the Great Satan has not been forgotton. According to Iran's pundits, the Great Satan planned it all. It wanted to get the Navy back in the Persian Gulf. 
 An Iraqi airways jet carrying 78 foreigners and a number of Iraqi citizens arrived today, the first commercial flight allowed out of Iraq since it invaded Kuwait, a Japanese Embassy spokesman said. The mostly Japanese tourists arrived at Amman airport at 6:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m. EDT) along with 34 members of an Iraqi football team, said the spokesman on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately known if there were Americans on board. He said that the plane was due to leave Amman for an undisclosed destination. The spokesman said the plane was supposed to land in Vienna, but it was denied landing rights. The U.N. Security Council on Monday voted economic sanctions that ban all trade and military ties with Iraq. Jordan's information minister, Ibrahim Izzedine, said earlier today that the U.S. government had asked Jordan to facilitate the entrance from Iraq of American diplomats and their dependents. Izzedine said the request was made through the U.S. Embassy in Amman. Thousands of Westerners have been stranded in Kuwait and Iraq since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Thursday. They include more than 350 who were on a British Airways flight that was caught in the unrest in Kuwait. A British Airways spokeswoman said today a "substantial" number of those passengers arrived safely in Baghdad on Monday. Among the passengers were 28 Americans, who also turned up in a Baghdad hotel and appear to be fine, a U.S. official said in Washington. In addition, a Kuwaiti businessman said about 1,000 people a day were fleeing Kuwait through the desert to Saudi Arabia. The businessman, who arrived in London on a British Airways flight from Bahrain today, said Kuwaitis and expatriates, including Westerners, were joining convoys to escape the Iraqi forces. Jordan's borders with Iraq had been closed from the Iraqi side since Thursday morning, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The "provisional government of free Kuwait" set up by Iraq had threatened Sunday to hold hostage citizens of countries imposing sanctions on it. A U.S. diplomat said Washington had instructed "American citizens living in or visiting Iraq and Kuwait to leave when circumstances permit." 
 Hitting Baghdad where it hurts, more countries have joined a U.N.-sanctioned boycott of oil from Iraq and Kuwait. On Tuesday, countries ranging from powerful Japan to neutral Switzerland to tiny Cyprus cut off petroleum imports in an effort to convince the Baghdad government to withdraw its troops that invaded Kuwait on Thursday. Turkey announced it was shut down the twin Iraqi oil pipelines that run through it to the Mediterranean _ carrying half of Baghdad's crude output _ and cutting off trade with Iraq. Baghdad's only other major pipelines exporting crude run through Saudi Arabia, where the flow has been drastically reduced. The U.N. Security Council on Monday voted to impose broad economic sanctions against Iraq for invading small oil-rich Kuwait. The measure forbids loans to Iraq or Kuwait and prohibits any activities, including the transfer of money, that would help the two countries export their goods. Sanctions adopted by the European Economic Community on Saturday froze Iraqi assets and suspended the purchase of oil from the two Arab countries. More than 90 percent of imports from Iraq to the 12-nation EEC are petroleum products. The EEC also suspended arms sales to Iraq. Switzerland, which is not a member of the United Nations, made the unusual move Tuesday of joining the U.N. sanctions and banned all trade with Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. In addition, Switzerland prohibited all payments and other financial transfers to Iraq and Kuwait. Denmark, Norway and Sweden also announced embargoes on all trade with both countries. Japan's participation in the U.N. sanctions was seen as especially key since Tokyo usually has taken a low profile in the Middle East, which supplies much of its petroleum needs. Japan imports 99 percent of its oil. China joined the U.N. decision to embargo arms sales to Iraq, but has been less vocal than other major countries in condemning the invasion. China sold arms to both Iran and Iraq during their eight-year war and is a major Iraqi trade partner. Cyprus' sacrifice in joining the embargo was to give up 70 percent of its oil imports, government spokesman Akis Fantis said. Cyprus has sufficient oil supplies to last until the end of August, he said, but "we are already in the process of taking steps to secure alternative sources ..." The worldwide closing of ranks against Iraqi oil imports is likely to lead to even higher petroleum prices, which have already risen dramatically since the invasion and could have a major impact on the world economy. Wholesale oil prices soared to five-year highs in New York on Monday. France will introduce controls Thursday on prices of petroleum products to prevent refiners from using Iraq's invasion of Kuwait as an excuse to raise prices, acting Premier Pierre Beregovoy announced Tuesday. An official with the Petroleum Association of Japan said he was unaware of any increase yet in the price of gasoline for consumers. The official, who refused to be further identified, said it would be at least three months before the sanctions could be expected to force higher gas prices in Japan. 
 East Germany authorities on Friday interrogated former Communist leader Erich Honecker about his role in the killings of people who tried to flee the country. Honecker and Erich Mielke, head of East Germany's once-feared secret police agency, were interrogated by federal prosecutors, said Peter Przybylski, a Justice Ministry spokesman. More than 200 people were shot to death or killed by land mines as they tried to escape from East Germany's Communist rule. The government announced in June that Honecker, Mielke and several border guards would be investigated on possible murder charges in connection with those deaths. Honecker, 77 and in failing health, and several other members of his ousted regime already have been charged with corruption and abuse of power. The murder charge could put Honecker behind bars for life, but his poor health makes prosecution questionable. He is staying in a Soviet hospital outside Berlin. Last month, a medical panel ruled that Honecker was too ill to be jailed pending investigation but fit enough to be prosecuted. Mielke was ordered jailed. East Germany's democratic government has changed its mind several times on whether to pursue charges against the aging members of the former hard-line regime that was toppled in last autumn's pro-democracy protests. 
 The army on Tuesday dispatched tanks and troop reinforcements to the frontier with Pakistan, where soldiers from the two nations have been fighting recently, officials and witnesses said. Prime Minister V.P. Singh told Parliament that Indian armed forces were "fully prepared to effectively deal with any eventuality." Indian and Pakistani troops clashed in a remote border area in the disputed Kashmir region Monday. Singh, who is also defense minister, said exchange of fire also occurred Tuesday. In Pakistan, a Defense Ministry spokesman, who cannot be identified under briefing rules, said Tuesday that Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged artillery fire in the Kel sector along the cease-fire line dividing Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian regions. He said there were no casualties among Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistani official also said that on Monday and Tuesday, Indian soldiers fired on Pakistani civilians traveling on a mountain road, injuring four people. He also said Indian soldiers fired on an ambulance and a bus. There was no report from India on the alleged firing. Despite the tension, officials from both sides said the incidents did not appear to be serious. "There is no cause for any undue concern since we trust that these localized incidents will be contained and the situation defused," United News of India quoted Singh as saying in the Parliament. Singh said directors of military operations from both countries were in touch. He did not elaborate. The Pakistani official said: "This is not a serious situation. It's just in one sector. It could be just a local incident. We don't know what it will lead to. We'll just have to wait and see." India and Pakistan have gone to war twice over Kashmir, in 1965 and 1971. Both sides claim Kashmir, which has been divided into Indian and Pakistani sectors. Tensions over Kashmir flared again this summer. India accuses Pakistan of supporting a Moslem secessionist movement in the Indian sector by providing arms and training to Moslem militants. Pakistan, an Islamic state, denies the charge but says it will back any movement for self-determination by Kashmir's people. Jammu-Kashmir state is the only one of India's states with a Moslem majority. At least 1,034 people have been killed in the Kashmir valley since New Delhi cracked down on the secessionist movement on Jan. 20. Military officials in Jammu, the summer capital of India-held Kashmir, said Tuesday that tanks and troops reinforcements were dispatched to the border areas. At least 20 tanks and 30 trucks with soldiers left their quarters at Kaluchak and Baridrahamna for the frontier, said witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Indian military officials said the additional troops were sent to Rajauri and Poonch sectors, which were the scenes of fierce battles in the wars of 1965 and 1971. 
 Ousted East German leader Erich Honecker will not stand trial in East Germany as long as the formerly Communist country exists, a West German newspaper reported. The Hamburg-based Bild am Sonntag said Saturday that it would report in its Sunday editions that Honecker could be prosecuted in a united Germany, however, for violation of property laws. Bild quoted Guenter Seidel, an East German prosecutor, as saying that Honecker had used $42 million for stocking a private housing estate for leaders of the former Communist government. However, Seidel said that the investigation was not far enough along to determine whether charges could be filed against Honecker before East Germany merges with West Germany on Oct. 3. Negotiators are still working out the merger of the two German legal systems. Honecker, 78, was ousted as East Germany's leader on Oct. 18, paving the way for the country's first freely elected government in March. Honecker is in poor health and remains confined to a Soviet military hospital in Beelitz outside East Berlin. He is under investigation on allegations of abuse of power, corruption, harboring terrorists and issuing shoot-to-kill orders to prevent East Germans from escaping to West Germany when he served as the country's leader. Bild said that Erich Mielke, the ex-head of East Germany's former secret police, was also unlikely to go to court in East Germany. "I am at the end. I am a dead man," Bild quoted Mielke, 82, as saying at his last interrogation. 
 President Corazon Aquino today reversed a long-held policy and said she was willing to negotiate cease-fires with Communist guerrillas and former soldiers who have staged coup attempts. Mrs. Aquino also invited the opposition to join the talks, including her most outspoken critic, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. Manila has been rocked by almost daily explosions. Although no one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, the government has blamed them on former soldiers who have repeatedly tried to toppled Mrs. Aquino in coup attempts. The Communist rebels have been waging a 21-year rebellion to establish a Marxist state. The last cease-fire with them collapsed in early 1987. Sen. Wigberto Tanada called for a truce between the government and the Communist rebels after a major earthquake in the Philippines on July 16, but Mrs. Aquino rejected the proposal. On Tuesday, a pro-Aquino senator, Orlando Mercado, urged Mrs. Aquino to put aside differences with her political foes and begin to discuss the nation's security problems and economic woes. Enrile said he was willing to reconcile with Mrs. Aquino, who fired him as defense minister after he was implicated in a coup attempt in November 1986. Mrs. Aquino said in a statement today that Mercado and Enrile are welcome to join discussions now being held by a committee of Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos has adamantly refused any cease-fire with the Communist guerrillas since November 1986 when the Aquino government negotiated with the rebels during a 60-day truce. Ramos, a member of the Cabinet committee, has been credited with crushing six coup attempts against Mrs. Aquino. Communists have accused him of whipping up threats of another coup attempt against Mrs. Aquino so that the civilian leadership would become indebted to him. Ramos has denied all allegations. The last cease-fire with the rebels collapsed in January 1987 after troops fired on farmers demonstrating outside Mrs. Aquino's office for land reform. 
 East Germany's ousted secret police chief threatened to break former Communist leader Erich Honecker's neck when the two faced each other in jail, a West German newspaper reported Wednesday. "You traitor!" 82-year-old former security chief Erich Mielke shouted at Honecker, according to Bild newspaper. Mielke also screamed at Honecker "I'll break your neck!" the newspaper quoted witnesses as describing the scene when the two met in an East German jail. Honecker, 78, was jailed for one day in January. Mielke for years headed the dreaded secret police, known as Stasi, which built up files on 6 million East Germans and kept a tight rein on the population. He was one of Honecker's closest aides. After the popular revolt last fall that ousted the Communist regime and opened the way to German unification, Mielke and other former Communist leaders were jailed. Mielke remains in custody. Honecker was released from jail for health reasons. West German authorities on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation of Mielke. He is suspected of giving sanctuary to members of West Germany's leftist terrorist group, the Red Army Faction, and of setting up contacts between the group and Palestinian guerrillas. Honecker is also the target of several criminal investigations, one in West Germany for obstruction of justice. Bild said the imprisoned Mielke also accused other former Communist officials of betrayal and threatened to retaliate against them. One prison warden told Bild that many of the guards had worked for Mielke's Stasi and that they might interpret his threat against Honecker as an order to kill the former Communist chief. Bild said Mielke and other members of Honecker's ruling circle will be moved to a West Berlin prison after German unification on Oct. 3. Honecker also will be moved to the same jail if his health improves enough for him to be imprisoned. He is suffering from kidney cancer and is being kept at a Soviet military hospital oustide East Berlin. 
 An intestinal operation to lower the cholesterol of heart attack patients reduced their risk for another heart attack or death from heart disease, researchers said today. The surgery, called a partial ileal bypass, has one significant drawback: It causes chronic diarrhea that persists for years. In the operation, doctors change the route of the small intestine so about one-third of it is bypassed. This reduces the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed into the bloodstream. The $52 million, 17-year study was conducted on people who had already suffered heart attacks. The approach lengthened the lives of people who had very mild heart attacks but not those with more severe heart damage. During an average of 10 years of follow up, the death rate among surgery patients who had sustained minimal heart damage was 24 percent. In a comparison group without the intestinal surgery, it was 39 percent. Dr. Henry Buchwald of the University of Minnesota, who directed the study, said the surgery should be considered along with cholesterol-lowering drugs as a possible standard treatment. "It has a role in the management of patients with high cholesterol who have had a heart attack," Buchwald said. "It is eminently logical to extend all cholesterol-lowering therapy, including this, to patients with high cholesterol who have not had a heart attack." Besides diarrhea, those who undergo the surgery are somewhat more prone to have kidney stones, gallstones and intestinal obstructions. The study was conducted in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Little Rock, Ark, and published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Despite wide acceptance of cholesterol lowering, doubts remain about whether it actually helps people live longer if they already have healthy hearts. Although the latest study was conducted exclusively on people who had suffered heart attacks, Buchwald said he believes the research should settle that question. "It offers the strongest justification for marked lipid (cholesterol) ineervention that has ever been offered," Buchwald said. "It is a very powerful study and should, except for certain people who will never be satisfied, end the cholesterol controversy." In the study, 421 people who recovered from heart attacks underwent the surgery, while a comparison group of 417 people were treated with diet alone. At the start of the study, their average cholesterol levels were 251. The surgery lowered people's cholesterol 23 percent. The overall risk of dying from heart disease or suffering another non-fatal heart attack was reduced 35 percent among the surgical patients with the healthiest hearts. The surgical patients also required less than half as many coronary bypass operations because of clogged heart arteries. 
 Unidentified assailants hurled a grenade and fired shots today at the home of relatives of Nelson Mandela, killing a baby girl and injuring her parents, police said. African National Congress officials said the dead child and her parents were distant cousins of Nelson Mandela. They denied South African police and press reports that the child was Mandela's great-granddaughter. Police said they did not know who was responsible for the attack. No group took immediate responsibility. Police Lt. Govindesamy Mariemuthoo said the attack occurred before dawn at the home of Monde Mandela in the black township of Soweto. The blast badly damaged part of the house, knocking holes in the wall and causing extensive damage. The police officer said a baby girl was killed and her parents injured. He gave no other detail on the victims. He said the room in which the injured couple had been sleeping was destroyed. ANC officials said the dead child was the great niece of Mandela's father, making her a distant cousin of Nelson Mandela. The dead girl's father, Monde Mandela, runs a small grocery shop. The ANC officials said Nelson Mandela was close to the Monde Mandela family. An ANC statement said, "The ANC notes the curious coincidence of an attack on a man bearing the Mandela name at this time." Given the distant connection between Mandela and the family, police said they did not know if the attack was deliberate or just a random attack linked to the general violence. Mandela was reportedly attending a political meeting in the eastern province of Natal today. Soweto and other black townships around Johannesburg have been hit by black factional fighting that has killed about 800 people since August. The fighting has pitted followers of the ANC against Zulus of the conservative Inkatha group. Mandela has repeatedly accused security forces of manipulating the violence to derail government efforts to end apartheid and share power with the black majority. The police have denied Mandela's charges. Mandela was released in February after 27 years in jail for opposing the white minority government. He is closely guarded by ANC operatives, and there have been reports of threats on his life in recent months. Mandela and other ANC leaders have been negotiating with President F.W. de Klerk to pave the way for full-scale talks on ending apartheid, the South African system of racial separation. De Klerk has promised to end white-minority rule. 
 McDonald's hamburgers, fries and golden arches came to China on Monday when the fast-food chain opened its first restaurant in a nation famed for its distinctive cuisine. Hundreds of Chinese waited for hours outside the restaurant in Shenzhen, an economic boom town near Hong Kong, for their first taste of a McDonald's hamburger, fries or shake. "I travelled for four hours from a village to get here," said Huang Rongti, 70, who has lost most of her teeth because of age. "You think hamburgers are too challenging for my age?" Later, after purchasing her first Big Mac, she inspected it carefully before taking a bite. "It tastes good, I like it," she announced before slowly eating the rest. The opening of a U.S. fast-food restaurant in China, where cooking has long been considered a culinary art, may seem odd to gourmets. It is estimated there are more than 5,000 different Chinese dishes. In Canton, 125 miles northwest of Shenzhen, chefs specialize in some of the more exotic Chinese dishes, such as cat stew, bear paws, chicken feet and a famed snake dish - "Dragon and Tiger Locked in Battle" - made from three kinds of poisonous snakes stewed with leopard meat, and garnished with 20 spices, lemon leaves and chrysanthemum petals. However, many Chinese, who earn an average $32 a month, are still unable to afford fancy meals at restaurants. In Shenzhen, a Chinese special economic zone where foreign investors have built factories, salaries are higher and workers earn an average of $53 a month. At the restaurant, a Big Mac costs $1.14, a bag of fries 48 cents and a shake 74 cents. Another U.S. fast food outlet, Kentucky Fried Chicken, opened a restaurant in Beijing in 1987, and it now has four outlets there. McDonald's hopes to open a restaurant in Beijing later. Although Kentucky Fried Chicken has become popular, the average Chinese still regards a meal there as a treat, rather than a convenience, and McDonald's could face the same problems. The 500-seat McDonald's restaurant in a three-story building is operated by McDonald's Restaurant Shenzhen Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonald's Hong Kong. McDonald's Hong Kong is a 50-50 joint venture with McDonald's in the United States. It is managed by a Chinese national, Chen Tikang, and his son, Chen Yin, who is the restaurant manager. The younger Chen returned recently from a course at McDonald's hamburger university in Oak Brook, Ill. Most of the ingredients used at the restaurant are now imported from Hong Kong. But McDonald's executives hope eventually to get their supplies of beef and potatoes from China. Daniel Ng, chairman of McDonald's Restaurant Shenzhen Ltd., said it took two years to prepare for the restaurant's opening and his ambition now is to serve 10 million burgers a year. Last month, when McDonald's advertized for 240 staffers for the restaurant, it received applications from more than 9,000 persons, including college graduates, officials said. "I feel I have a better job prospect working here, and it pays better," said Henry He, 25, who has a master's degree in garment and textile. He is an assistant manager at the restaurant. A waiter at the restaurant can earn 53 cents an hour. A factory worker, who waited several hours before she was able to purchase her hamburger, said she liked it because of its "sweet taste" - the result of tomato ketchup, which is not commonly used in traditional Chinese cooking. 
 The Booker Prize is Britain's literary event of the year, guaranteed to boost sales of the chosen novel after the award announcement Oct. 16, and dinner in London's ancient Guildhall. The prize to the author is a check for 20,000 pounds (nearly $38,000), sponsored by Booker, an international food and agriculture business. "British publishers are very secretive about their sales but we know that when Thomas Keneally won it in 1982 for `Schindler's Ark,' his publishers, who had printed 15,000 copies, sold 75,000 over the next 23 weeks," said Christine Shaw of Book Trust. The trust is a charity promoting reading and books and administers the prize. "The prize has become internationally known, and the worldwide demand for the winning book, in English and translations, is spectacular," said Shaw. The prize was first awarded in 1969 after talks between Booker and the Publishers' Association on the need for a significant literary award to encourage and reward good writing. British publishers can submit three new novels by British and Commonwealth writers. There were 110 submissions last year. A management committee of authors, booksellers, librarians and the sponsors chooses a jury of five: a writer or two, an academic, a politician interested in literature and a literary editor or critic. Each juror reads every book submitted, lists about six favorites and meets the other jurors to select and announce six finalists. As public debate rages over who's in, who's out and who might win, with bookmakers across the country calling the odds, the jurors meet again and finally select the winner on the afternoon of announcement day. This year's finalists: Beryl Bainbridge "An Awfully Big Adventure," A.S. Byatt "Possession," Penelope Fitzgerald "The Gate of Angels," John McGahern "Amongst Women," Brian Moore "Lies of Silence" and Mordecai Richler "Solomon Gursky Was Here." 
 The 50th anniversary of John Lennon's birth was observed with a global celebration today as his peace anthem "Imagine" was played for an estimated 1 billion people in 130 nations. The song was played shortly after 10 a.m. following a brief ceremony at the United Nations that featured the ex-Beatle's widow, Yoko Ono. Marcela Perez de Cuellar, wife of the U.N. secretary general, also provided a brief introduction. A recorded message from the slain Beatle was played as well. "In celebration of John's life, let's use our power of dreaming," Ono said. "Let's dream of trees growing in abundance, birds flying in clear air, fish swimming in clear water and our children living in joy. "Let's dream of men and women feeling good together and people embracing each other regardless of their creed and religion," she said. "Let's dream of all races praising one another in the knowledge that the differences are what makes the human race." The U.N. Trusteeship Council Chamber was about one-third full with a couple of hundred people for the observance and about 150 people watched on television monitors in the visitors' lobby. A group of 10 teen-agers in blue jeans and T-shirts sat on the floor, held hands and meditated. More than 1,000 radio stations and networks from 50 countries had signed on for the satellite broadcast by last week. U.S. Armed Forces television and radio beamed the event to 80-plus countries. MTV was to broadcast the program in 25 countries, said network spokeswoman Andrea Smith. More than 50 fans gathered at the late Beatle's sidewalk star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles to honor the singer-songwriter. Some held candles and others carried birthday balloons. Beatles fans gathered in Liverpool today to pay tribute to Lennon. Civic dignitaries planned to join them at the city's Cavern Walks shopping precinct - on the ite of the legendary Cavern Club where the group was discovered. In New York, fans planned a tearful pilgrimage to the spot outside the Dakota apartment building where Lennon was gunned down almost 10 years ago. "Lennon always symbolized for us somebody who was able to handle rock and roll with a sense of humor and later, even more importantly, as someone who cared for the rights of an individual, human rights in general, and who had the right concept of freedom and peace," said Ondrej Konrad, the editor of Czechoslovakia's leading popular music publication. Jeff Pollack, head of the California-based Pollack Media Group, proposed the idea to Ono, who gave it the go-ahead. She believes recent events around the world - in Germany, Eastern Europe and particularly the Middle East - show the importance of Lennon's peace message. "When this was discussed, we had no knowledge of what would happen in Iraq and Kuwait, you know. And now it seems very appropriate that this be sung all over the world," Ono said. "I don't know, the timing is incredible. It's beyond me ... It's beautiful." "Imagine" is Lennon's musical vision of a world free of war and poverty. Lennon was born Oct. 9, 1940 and helped lead the Beatles to international stardom, along with co-members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. He fatally gunned down by an obsessed fan outside his Manhattan apartment building in December 1980. The tribute coincides with the release of a four-compact disc set of 73 songs, including 61 written by Lennon. Also in honor of Lennon's 50th birthday, McCartney is releasing his live version of "Birthday." 
 On the spot where Lenin once spoke, the focus Tuesday was on Lennon. Official newspapers, which once denounced the Beatles as harmful pests from the decadent West, joined a worldwide celebration and ran stories of tribute about the late John Lennon, who would have turned 50 on Tuesday. State radio broadcast his music and interviews about him. Two concerts devoted to the songwriter, guitarist and singer, who was shot to death in 1980, were held in Moscow. Even the staid state television program "Vremya" got into act. An anchorman, more accustomed to reading official government news, reported on the worldwide Lennon birthday bash and called his song "Imagine," an "anthem of peace." The broadcast ended with an instrumental version of "Yesterday" playing as temperatures from around the nation rolled across the screen. The celebration was a dramatic turnabout from Soviet authorities' repression of Beatles fans and supression of their music in earlier times. Their music was banned and the Soviet press condemned them. A 1964 article, for instance, commented, "These bugs can swiftly ignite the very darkest and primitive passions." About 1,000 Soviets, mostly second generation Beatles fans, flocked to the Moscow Electrical Lamp Factory's cultural hall in northeastern part of the city to rejoice in Lennon's music. A plaque outside the hall reminded Beatles fans that Lennon's near namesake, Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, had spoken at the spot in 1917 and 1919. Inside, fans listened to recordings of Lennon's music, attended a concert of about a dozen Soviet rock bands, bought his albums and posters and reflected on his life. "He's like a hero, a symbol for every person: a symbol of honesty, talent, devotion to his ideals, notion of love, equality between people and goodness," said Irina Dykomkina, the 21-year-old secretary of the Sgt. Pepper's Club, a Soviet Beatles fan club formed two years ago. Lennon's music, she said, crosses borders easily. "His music is so sincere, it's so understandable, even to people who don't know English. They feel the music." Andrei Trushkin, a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda - the Communist Party youth newspaper that devoted a full page Tuesday to Lennon - said he appeals to Soviet youth in part because he was a rebel, like many of them, and was a "difficult teen-ager." "The cops would have locked him up many times," said Trushkin, who helped organize the concert. Tuesday's concert opened in the spirit of a birthday party. Balloons floated down from the balconies as a tape of Lennon's song, "Starting Over," played. The stage was adorned with a painting of Lennon and life-size cardboard cutouts of the Fab Four in front of the British flag. "Oorah! Oorah!" shouted the audience, which included a few soldiers in uniform. Onstage, the groups Sprint, Quiet Hour and Optimal Variant played in Beatles style but were joined by a group that didn't quite fit in the genre, an American-style country ensemble that wore plaid vests and performed "Night Train to Memphis." 
 John Lennon's worldwide message of peace was delivered Tuesday as his song "Imagine" was played simultaneously for 1 billion people in 130 countries to celebrate what would have been his 50th birthday. "A dream we dream alone is only a dream, but the dream we dream together is reality. Happy birthday, John. The world is better today for sharing a time with you," Yoko Ono said at a United Nations ceremony before the playing of "Imagine." The slain former Beatle himself issued a call for harmony in a taped message that served as an introduction to the music. "We all want peace, whatever sort of job we have. ... Think of your children. Do you want them to be killed or don't you? And that's the choice we have in front of us. War or peace," said Lennon, whose son Sean turned 15 Tuesday. None of the other Beatles were at the United Nations, but a tribute came from Lennon's old songwriting partner, Paul McCartney, who released a live version of the Beatles' tune "Birthday." The song, originally on the "White Album," was the first Lennon-McCartney single released since the Beatles broke up in 1969. "The release date and John's birthday is just a happy coincidence, but it's also a nod and a wink to my old mate," said McCartney, 47. Other observances were held from Liverpool to Moscow to Los Angeles. In Lennon's hometown in England, fans gathered at the former site of the Cavern Club, where the Beatles were discovered. Among those attending was Lennon's 71-year-old uncle, Charlie Lennon. When asked how his nephew would have reacted to the ceremonies, he said: "If he had been alive I doubt he would have come and even if he had, he would sat with me in the pub and had a good laugh." On the West Coast, about 50 people - part of an estimated 1 billion people worldwide who had access to the event - stood near Lennon's star on the Walk of Fame and listened to the "Imagine" broadcast: "Imagine all the people, living life in peace "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one "I hope some day you'll join us "And the world will live as one." "His spirit still lives in all of us whose lives have been touched with him," Ono said of her late husband. "I would like us to remember and celebrate his birthday as a day of love, because he was a man of love, and because love is much needed at this time in our lives." Ono was greeted by Marcela Perez de Cuellar, wife of the U.N. secretary-general. During her brief remarks, Ono also quoted a line from another of Lennon's songs, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)": "Remember, war is over if you want it." More than 1,000 radio stations and networks from 50 countries broadcast the 10-minute event. U.S. Armed Forces television and radio beamed it to 80-plus other countries. MTV televised the "Imagine" video in 25 countries, said Andrea Smith, a spokeswoman for the network. In Moscow, about 1,000 Soviets gathered at the Moscow Electrical Lamp Factory's cultural hall to listen to Lennon's music, snap up his albums and posters and reflect on his life. Even the staid state television program "Vremya" got into the act. An anchorman, reporting on the worldwide birthday bash, described "Imagine" as an "anthem of peace." The broadcast ended with an instrumental version of "Yesterday." Not so long ago, the Beatles' music was banned in the Soviet Union. In 1964, one commentator warned that "these bugs can swiftly ignite the very darkest and primitive passions." Lennon was shot to death by a deranged fan outside his Manhattan apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. 
 Conductor Leonard Bernstein, the "West Side Story" composer who mesmerized audiences with his passion and physical flair at the podium, is giving up the baton because of poor health. The 72-year-old maestro suffers from a lung tumor, emphysema and pulmonary infections and has been told by his doctor to stop conducting and performing on the piano, his spokeswoman said Tuesday. "Leonard Bernstein will henceforth devote his professional energies to composing, writing and education," said Margaret Carson. He last conducted Aug. 19 at the Tanglewood Music Center in western Massachusetts. Bernstein's announcement was met with dismay in the music world, especially at the New York Philharmonic, which he directed from 1958 to 1969. "I receive this unfortunate news in utter shock," said Zubin Mehta, music director. Albert K. Webster, managing director of the Philharmonic, said: "Leonard Bernstein has BEEN the New York Philharmonic for more than 45 years. We all will be less for the loss of his magic baton." Bernstein still hopes to participate in an AIDS benefit at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 28 but canceled all appearances with orchestras in New York, Israel, Vienna and London and with festival orchestras at Tanglewood, Germany and Japan. Bernstein, known for his vigorous style at the podium, once led an orchestra performance at a liberated concentration camp. Last Christmas, he celebrated the tumbling of the Berlin Wall by conducting Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony." In May, he canceled plans to conduct opening night of the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., citing "a near brush with pneumonia." Carson said Bernstein has had increased difficulty breathing in past weeks. Dr. Kevin M. Cahill attributed the problem to emphysema complicated by a tumor and pulmonary infections. Bernstein was once a heavy smoker. Bernstein is not hospitalized. Carson said the conductor was told that rest offers the best hope for returning to limited activities. She said Bernstein plans to continue work on a new chamber music piece to be performed next spring, a new musical theater work he hopes to finish by summer and several educational, film and recording projects, as well as his memoirs. Bernstein was the wunderkind of American music at a time when all respected conductors in the United States were born and trained in Europe. His first published composition was "The Clarinet Sonata" in 1942. He conducted his first symphony, the "Jeremiah," with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1944. That year his ballet, "Fancy Free," choreographed by Jerome Robbins, opened and became the basis for the Broadway musical "On the Town." After Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky died in 1951, Bernstein became head of the orchestra and conducting departments at Tanglewood. His first opera, "Trouble in Tahiti," was performed in 1952. He composed "Candide" in 1956 and "West Side Story" in 1957. In 1969, he retired from the post to concentrate on composing and was appointed the Philharmonic's laureate conductor for life. He has conducted 1,244 New York Philharmonic concerts, more than any other conductor. 
 Leonard Bernstein, whose wide-ranging talents and flamboyant personality helped make him the first American maestro to conquer music's international podium, was buried today alongside his wife. Bernstein, who died of lung failure Sunday at age 72, was buried this afternoon in private ceremonies at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. His wife, Felicia Montealegre, died in 1978. Flags at Lincoln Center, where the New York Philharmonic performs, were lowered in memory of the orchestra's first American-born music director. Bernstein was appointed in 1958 and stepped down in 1969 to spend more time composing. The Philharmonic will perform an all-Bernstein program beginning Thursday and continuing through Oct. 23. The schedule had called for works by Shostakovich and Beethoven. A memorial concert also is planned for Carnegie Hall on Nov. 14, the 47th anniversary of Bernstein's Philharmonic debut. Famed for his gymnastics at the podium, Bernstein composed symphonies as well as movie scores and Broadway shows such as "West Side Story," "On the Town" and "Candide." His Emmy-winning "Young People's Concerts" on television introduced thousands to classical music. "He was the most unique musician of this century, there is no doubt about it," said Zubin Mehta, music director of the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Larry Kert, who played Tony in the Broadway production of "West Side Story," said Bernstein himself played the piano for him during rehearsals. "He could have gotten a rehearsal pianist, but he cared too much," Kert said. "I was the new kid on the block and he stroked me and took care of me - and I will never forget him for that." 
 Critic and novelist A.S. Byatt on Tuesday won the Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award, for her tale of two young scholars investigating the lives of a pair of imaginary Victorian poets. The five judges deliberated two hours before awarding the $39,000 prize to Antonia Byatt for "Possession," one of six finalists in the 21-year-old competition. Last year's Booker winner was Kazuo Ishiguro for his novel, "The Remains of the Day." Television executive Sir Denis Forman, chairman of the judge's panel, announced the prize at a banquet in London's Elizabethan Guildhall, seat of the city's Lord Mayor. "There was very strong individual support for several books on the short list and finally `Possession' by A.S. Byatt was the winner by a majority vote," said the judges. "The panel was unanimous, however, in agreeing that the standard of the other five novels was exceptionally high and this made their decision unusually interesting and unusually difficult." Ms. Byatt, who earlier this month won the $43,000 Irish Times-Aer Lingus prize for international fiction for the same work, has published five novels since 1964. In "Possession," she tells how two graduate students piece together the relationship and lives of two imaginary Victorian poets from fragments of their letters and by retracing the poets' journeys across England and to France. The influence of the past on the living is a theme throughout the book. Ms. Byatt, born in 1936, is the daughter of a lawyer and sister of novelist Margaret Drabble. Her first novel, "Shadow of a Sun," concerned the efforts of a woman to escape the shadow of her novelist father. A 1978 work, "The Virgin in the Garden," makes allegorical allusions to Shakespeare and other English literary geniuses in a tale of a play performed at a country house. Ms. Byatt taught English and American literature at University College in London until 1983, when she quit to write fulltime. Other finalists this year were 1979 Booker Prize winner Penelope Fitzgerald with "The Gate of Angels," Irish novelist John McGahern's "Amongst Women," Canadian-born Mordecai Richler's "Solomon Gursky Was Here," Brian Moore's "Lies of Silence," and Beryl Bainbridge's "An Awfully Big Adventure." They were chosen from a list of 113 books published in the United Kingdom in 1989. The Booker Prize is sponsored by Booker, an international food and agriculture business, and administered by The Book Trust. It is Britain's top literary award. 
 For the New York Philharmonic, it was supposed to be a night of Beethoven and Shostakovich. The fates made it a night of Leonard Bernstein. The official catalog of his works says Bernstein led 74 orchestras. But this was HIS orchestra, and the musicians came to pay tribute to THEIR laureate conductor, who led them through 1,244 concerts during his 47-year association with the Philharmonic. They let his music do the talking. "Tonight's concert is not an evening in which we want to dwell on the passing of a giant, but rather what he has left us," guest conductor Leonard Slatkin told the audience at Avery Fisher Hall on Thursday night. So four nights after Bernstein's death at age 72, Beethoven's "Violin Concerto" became Bernstein's "Serenade for Solo Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion" (1954); Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 4" became Bernstein's "Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah)," written in 1942. Also added were his "Chichester Psalms" (1965) and his overture to "Candide" (1956). The substitute Bernstein program was being repeated Friday night, Saturday and Tuesday. It was an extraordinary concert. There weren't many smiling faces among the audience or musicians. Slatkin's brief introductory comments, followed by the whimsical "Candide," broke some of the tension. Then came the eclectic "Serenade," which Bernstein's program notes says is supposed to be based on Plato's "Symposium." It begins with a lyrical praise of the Eros, the god of love. The piece is sometimes jocular, sometimes melancholy, sometimes assaulting and sometimes hedonistic. It ends in drunken revelry, an intrusion of jazz - as if Bernstein was looking down from heaven and telling the audience, "It's O.K. to smile tonight." The soloist - concertmaster Glenn Dicterow - played with much agility, especially through the difficult double stops and especially considering the lack of preparation time. The mourning returned after intermission, but not without optimism. "Jeremiah" begins with suspenseful strings, followed by a cantorial French horn, a melodic return to the strings and then a prophetic blaring of brass. The second movement continues the point-counterpoint of brass versus strings (Jeremiah versus the corrupt priests, with Nebuchadnezzar looming on the horizon). In the third movement, Jerusalem has fallen to the Babylonian king. Judea is exiled. Jeremiah weeps. "How she sits desolate - "The city once so full of people - "She is become as a widow." During her chanting of the prophet's "Lamentations," mezzo-soprano Wendy White had to wipe a tear from her eye. S did members of the audience. Last on the program was another Hebraic elegy, "Chichester Psalms." The New York Choral Artists and a boy soloist joined the orchestra. Two harpists dominated the center of the crowded stage. "Awake, psaltery and harp!" the choir begins in Hebrew. "I will rouse the dawn." In the second movement an angelic 8th-grader, Evan Weber, sings King David's 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." After he finishes, the men's chorus bellows: "Why do the nations rage?" The piece, however, ends in a Mahlerian motif and chorus declaring a message Bernstein had sought for society: "Behold how good, "And how pleasant it is, "For brethren to dwell "Together in unity." To emphasize the point after the final note, Slatkin suspended his hands for several long moments of silence. Then came the cascade of applause. For Leonard Bernstein. 
 On the stage where Leonard Bernstein made his sensational New York Philharmonic conducting debut 47 years ago, the orchestra remembered the maestro at a concert that included selections from his "Mass" and "Chichester Psalms." Wednesday's midday concert at Carnegie Hall also came on the 90th birthday of the late composer-conductor's close friend, Aaron Copland. And it was the 36th anniversary of the first TV broadcast by Bernstein, who died Oct. 16. Speakers, introducing various selections and often quoting from Bernstein's writings, included Bernstein's three children, son-in-law and friends Lauren Bacall and Schuyler Chapin. Bernstein's daughter Jamie Thomas said her father had loved numerical coincidences "and today there's a flock of them." The concert began with selections from Bernstein's "Mass," which he composed for the opening of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, and ended with Psalm 133, in Hebrew, from Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms." Conductors were Michael Tilson Thomas, Michael Barrett, Christoph Eschenbach and James Levine. The orchestra played the overture to Bernstein's "Candide" with a symbolically empty podium, which brought tears to some of the invited audience and a standing ovation. Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich played a Bach sarabande. Singers were the Westminster Choir, mezzo-sopranos Marilyn Horne and Christa Ludwig, soprano Clamma Dale, tenor Jerry Hadley and baritones Thomas Hampson and Chester Ludgin. First chair musicians from the Boston Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, London Symphony, Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic flew here, at their orchestras' expense, to take part. Two pieces by Copland were played. The concert also included Schumann, Haydn and Mahler as well as excerpts from six Bernstein works. Bernstein was the New York Philharmonic's 25-year-old assistant conductor on Nov. 14, 1943, when he filled in at the last minute for an ailing Bruno Walter. 
 At this point, Lennon says he became a househusband to their child while Yoko ran the family business. The arrangement continued until Lennon told the woman he called "Mother" it was time to make music again. "Double Fantasy" followed just before John's death, although it was not to be Lennon's swan song. Bruce Springsteen has released three albums since 1980; Michael Jackson two. In contrast, Lennon - or, more accurately, Ono - has released five albums: "Milk and Honey," "Menlove Ave.," the movie soundtrack "Imagine," the "John Lennon - Live in New York" collection and a boxed CD collection for Christmas '90. In addition, "The Lost Lennon Tapes," featuring hours of unreleased Lennon music, became a popular syndicated radio program. Ono has overseen all these projects. "People ask me, `What would he have done in the '80s?' I say, `Let's talk about what he HAS done in the '80s,' because he has definitely," she said. "In spirit, I think he's alive, and we're getting the benefit." Others charge Ono with turning her memories into millions without concern for Lennon's image. A Fame magazine profile derided her as "The Merry Widow"; the now-defunct weekly 7 Days described her as the decade's "premier celebrity civil defendant." Greed, insensitivity, egomania. None of Ono's alleged faults are apparent in an interview. In October, a barefoot Ono greeted a visitor to the Dakota in a high-ceilinged first-floor room with white carpet and black onyx walls. Curled up on a chair, she serenely sipped herbal tea from a mug decorated with a Lennon drawing of John and Yoko with the inscription, "Grow Old With Me." The mug is one of an assortment of Lennon collectibles available (by appointment only) from Bag One Arts Inc., the entity that controls reproductions of Lennon's art work. Some of that black on white artwork - which includes doodles jotted down on napkins, the margins of letters or stray scraps of paper - has been colorized or redone in neon at Ono's order. "People would ask if we had anything in color," says Lynne Clifford, who runs Bag One for Yoko. "And Yoko said, `I feel confident enough to add the color myself. So she took the original sketches and we made plates and she added colors." Lithographs that sold for $400 four years ago have increased as much as 10 times in value, she says, and new ones cost between $600 and $700. Although Bag One's gallery a few blocks from the Dakota deals primarily in lithographs, it also sells the collectibles, including $3 laminated bags that bear Lennon's drawings. "Yoko wanted everybody to be able to walk away with something," explained Clifford. Where does all the money go? "Yoko is very funny about (saying) where the money goes. ... But some goes to the Spirit Foundation," she said. The foundation, established by Lennon and Ono before John's death, has contributed to causes ranging from a home for drug addicted children to bulletproof vests for police officers. Is there anything that will never bear Lennon's sketch-work? Socks, Clifford said. "Yoko said she couldn't imagine people walking around on John's drawings." Back at the Dakota, Ono receives a familiar question: Is this all commercialism? Has the iconoclastic ex-Beatle been sold out? She laughs. "No. I didn't sell out John. And I'm sure John would be happy I'm still keeping him out there. ... There's a commercial aspect, yes, but I mean, why not? I was a partner, and I still feel that I'm a partner." 
 Drummer Andy Newmark was touring with Roxy Music in the summer of 1980 when he got the call that changed his life: He was to play on John Lennon's new album. Lennon had been in virtual seclusion for five years, busy taking care of his son, Sean, and admittedly out of songwriting ideas. But in 1980, he suddenly felt inspired again and planned to return to the studio to make an album with his wife, Yoko Ono. It was more than a superstar session. Afterall, Lennon gave no press conferences, and didn't attend clubs or concerts. Rare photos occasionally emerged and he looked different in each one (Lennon jokingly referred to himself as "Greta Hughes" and "Howard Garbo"). Producer Jack Douglas, who had worked with Lennon as an engineer, recruited Newmark, bassist Tony Levin, guitarist Hugh McCracken and other New York-based sessions players. Recording was to take place at the Hit Factory in Manhattan. To Newmark, Lennon was a hero and only a hero. He didn't know him and was nervous about working with him. The drummer guessed he was something like the intense, irreverent young man of the movies "Help!" and "A Hard Day's Night." Lennon was those things - and more. "His personality seemed so consistent with all we had ever heard about John Lennon," said Newmark, who still lives in New York and works with former Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry. "His straightforwardness was as visible and apparant as the stories and images we had created. I didn't see anything that seemed startlingly new to the myth. It just appeared to be what we had imagined: down to earth, direct, so direct it could not offend people." Newmark spent just one month in the studio, playing on the songs that eventually ended up on "Double Fantasy" and "Milk and Honey," Lennon's final albums. It was the "best experience of my life," he insisted. "The highlight of my career." The nerves quickly settled. Once recording began, Lennon was just a "working musician" with the same goal as everyone else: finishing the album. The music was mostly mainstream pop; no 18-minute jams or political anthems. "I hate all that fancy stuff," Lennon told his drummer. "Keep it simple, like Ringo." He was a happy man at this point and his singing was higher, sweeter than on earlier albums. Lennon was hoping to get back in touch with his audience, and the songs were melodic, the production lush. "Dear Yoko" and "Grow Old With Me" were tributes to his wife. "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" was for Sean. Lennon defended his self-imposed retirement on "Watching the Wheels" and summed up his feelings about turning 40 on "Borrowed Time," capping the line "Good to be older" with a self-assured "you bet." Between takes, Lennon jammed on Buddy Holly songs and played host. Sushi was the food of choice. The strongest drug was Brazilian coffee, freshly ground. "Guys, I'm taking off," Lennon would say as he poured himself another cup. And there were plenty of stories about the Beatles - the "B's," as John called them. Reunions were out of the question, a return to adolescence in his opinion, but talking about the old days seemed the nicest kind of high. "By this time he was old enough to look upon the work they did and be proud of it," Newmark said. "When he talked about the `B's,' it was as if it was his band. He was the spiritual leader. I felt that a lot through the sessions." By the fall, Newmark had finished working on the album, and his contact with Lennon was limited to an occasional visit to the studio. But he had planned on working with him again. "Milk and Honey" was to come out the following year and Lennon wanted to tour, using many of the same musicians. "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans," Lennon once sang. It took the drummer a long time to recover from Lennon's murder the night of Dec. 8, 1980; he didn't even feel like working for the next few years - everything else suddenly seemed "second rate." Newmark never listens to the record, but still hears "Woman" on the radio. When he thinks about it now, it's not so much a particular song that hurts him, it's the day-to-day stuff: the jokes and wisecracks, the coffee and the stories. No one had a reason to remember all that at the time; those weren't supposed to be farewell sessions. "When I looked in his eyes, I felt a tremendous depth of character and a tremendous understanding of the human condition, a tremendous amount of compassion,," Newmark said. "He was totally friendly and open to everybody, including the janitor. He had time for everybody. That working class hero thing, he was trying to be real about that." 
 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's international admirers praised her courage and achievements Thursday after she announced she would resign. Even her foes tempered scorn with praise for a formidable adversary. Said President Bush, "I will miss her." He called her "an outstanding ally of the United States," adding, "You always knew where she was and what she believed." Vitaly Ignatenko, spokesman for Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, told the independent Interfax news agency: "Political, economic and cultural ties between our countries have become of greater importance" in the Thatcher era. "Our relations ... were marked by constructivism and dialogue." The reluctance Mrs. Thatcher showed toward increasing European unity was the source of most criticism. But in a joyful and unambiguous response, Iraq saw the Persian Gulf crisis as cause of her downfall. Bitterness was undisguised in the comment from Argentina's Nicanor Costa Mendez, foreign minister during his country's 1982 Falklands War with Britain. "I can't say that it makes me sad," he said. "I believe that the extreme positions - unnecessarily extreme, unjustifiably extreme - of the prime minister were one of the causes of the war, and one of the biggest impediments to achieve agreement after." Socialist President Mario Soares of Portugal singled out "her systematic opposition to the advances of the European Community." "During her long mandate," he said, "the preoccupations of social justice receded many times before purely development objectives, causing a climate of discontent in British public opinion to which Mrs. Thatcher appeared insensitive." But Soares also lauded the British prime minister as a "determined politician (who) took courageous positions on critical occasions in international life and without doubt marked an era in the contemporary history of her country." German Finance Minister Theo Waigel noted, "Despite her critical position on some questions of European integration, she accomplished a great deal for European politics." A neutral letter from Socialist President Francois Mitterrand of France told Mrs. Thatcher she had "marked an important moment in the history of your country and that of Europe." Iraqi government spokesman Naji al-Hadithi said growing opposition to her hard line against Iraq over its invasion of Kuwait "buried Mrs. Thatcher" just as the 1956 crisis over Britain's attack on the Suez Canal ruined former Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Britain stepped in after Egypt nationalized the canal. On Thursday, Britain announced it was nearly doubling its troops deployed in the gulf as part of the multinational force arrayed against Iraq, sending 14,000 more soldiers to join the 16,000 already in the region. South African President F.W. de Klerk praised Mrs. Thatcher, who opposed sanctions on South Africa, for standing up to world pressure and standing by Pretoria. "She had faith in South Africa's ability to solve its problems in a democratic way ... She had the courage of her convictions," he said. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel saidafter hearing of her resignation that Israel "feels a moment of sorrow because we all know this special personality, Mrs. Thatcher, who did many things and was an outstanding leader." Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu of Japan said the British prime minister "is a rare leader of firm convictions who was invigorated the United Kingdom and I feel great regret that she has withdrawn from the front line." Belgium's prime minister, Wilfried Martens, applauded "the determining role she played during more than 10 years in her own country and on the international scene." Said Prime Minister Bob Hawke of Australia, "Even those like myself who have been at odds with Margaret Thatcher on particular issues have admired her courage and tenacity of purpose. "Whatever the forces arrayed against her, she was always prepared to pursue with the utmost vigor those positions in which she believed." Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers said, "In the many years that she placed such an important stamp on the policies of the United Kingdom, Mrs. Thatcher has shown that she does not avoid making difficult decisions that she deems to be in the nation's interest. This, too, is such a decision which deserves respect." Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, now a legislator in the European Parliament, said Mrs. Thatcher's decision to quit was "dignified and courageous." "Margaret Thatcher will be seen with Winston Churchill as the greatest British prime minister of the last 50 years. The curtain has fallen on the Iron Lady. She deserves our congratulations." Even European Commission President Jacques Delors, Mrs. Thatcher's archenemy in Europe, spoke of his "high esteem" for her, despite their differences. Alfred Dregger, parliamentary leader of Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union, said Mrs. Thatcher played a major role in securing Western solidarity in the "historical conflict for freedom and democracy. We thank her for that." Former President Reagan spoke with great warmth of his closest foreign ally. "Margaret Thatcher's resoluteness played a key role in ending the Cold War," he said. "She stood up to the Soviets and let them know she meant business. Her deep and abiding dedication to the principles of liberty and democracy served as an inspiration to oppressed peoples everywhere who knew that Margaret Thatcher would never waver in her belief that all men and women are entitled to live in freedom." 
 For almost a decade, Margaret Thatcher was regarded at the White House as America's best friend, the trusted ally whose strong views reinforced the conservative tone of administration policies. Among Western allies, she was alone at Ronald Reagan's side in 1986 in supporting the U.S. bombing of Libya. In the Persian Gulf crisis, she boldly joined with George Bush in sending troops to the Middle East. "You always know where she was and what she believed," Bush said upon hearing of her decision to resign. "She has always been an outstanding ally of the United States," he said. "I will miss her." There were many doubters around the world when Reagan arrived in Washington with an economic program of free-market capitalism that seemed out of step with the times. Mrs. Thatcher wasn't one of the skeptics; she was advocating a similar program at home. They shared rocky relations with organized labor. Reagan successfully fired the nation's air traffic controllers, dealing a devastating blow to labor. She, too, smashed restive unions. On foreign policy, she frequently was more right wing than Reagan - certainly more so than Bush. Reagan never made any secret of his special affection for the British prime minister. They were ideological soulmates and called each other Ronnie and Margaret. At international gatherings, they usually were side by side. Two years ago as they met for the final time before Reagan left office, the president said he was leaving the White House with "considerable satisfaction in the knowledge that Margaret Thatcher will still reside at No. 10 Downing Street." She later wrote him a "Dear Ron" letter in which she praised him as "a great president, one of the greatest." Like Reagan, she was deeply suspicious of the Soviet Union. Together they advocated a hard line toward Moscow and championed military readiness - even though she was the first to recognize Mikhail S. Gorbachev as a leader she could do business with. Mrs. Thatcher encouraged the huge Pentagon buildup that Reagan nurtured under the theme of peace through strength. She was a big backer of U.S. efforts to install medium-range missiles in Europe and always seemed cautious - perhaps reluctant - when it came to disarmament. When Argentina and Britain clashed militarily over the Falkland Islands, the United States was forced to make a painful choice between two allies. Ronnie sided with Margaret. Washington's special relationship with London seemed to slip when Reagan left power. Bush and Mrs. Thatcher disagreed publicly last year over her government's decision to deport Vietnamese and Cambodian "boat people" who were fleeing their countries to Hong Kong. Bush, a veteran of world politics, knew many leaders around the globe. Mrs. Thatcher suddenly seemed to be just one of the gang. The Berlin Wall was collapsing and it appeared as if Bush found German Chancellor Helmut Kohl more interesting than Mrs. Thatcher. She was merely one in a parade of foreign dignitaries who got the prized invitation to visit Bush at Camp David this year. Nevertheless, Bush said he expected the "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain to remain on a "steady keel." Mrs. Thatcher did her part, demonstrating her loyalty. For awhile she and Bush were seemingly alone in their suspicions of Gorbachev's unilateral cutbacks in troops and arms in Europe, and appeared uncertain how to respond. Under intense pressure from Congress, Bush began to warm to the Soviet leader. Now they seem almost best of friends. On the Persian Gulf, Bush said he would not rule out possible military force, and ordered a huge buildup of troops to make his threat credible. Mrs. Thatcher, characteristically, was tougher. She said that unless Saddam Hussein got out of Kuwait soon, the West would have to use military force to dislodge him. She called Saddam "a loser," and the state-controlled Iraqi news agency replied that she was an "old hag." Now, she is leaving. No one suspects that Britain's new leadership - whoever it is - will take a soft line toward Iraq. Yet, if the going gets tough, it might have been comforting for Bush to be able to hear the tough old line from Thatcher. 
 Former President Reagan thanked British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for backing him up when other allies backed down, heaping praise on his political soulmate as she heads off into the sunset. "Margaret Thatcher was a completely reliable ally and partner of the greatest personal integrity," Reagan said in a statement after Mrs. Thatcher announced her impending retirement. "I could always count on her wise counsel, her firm support, and her loyal friendship," Reagan said. Mrs. Thatcher on Thursday succumbed to the challenge mounted by Michael Heseltine, who resigned as her defense minister in 1986. Reagan and the prime minister dubbed the Iron Lady formed a formidable duo in the 1980s and made no secret of their mutual regard. They often stood side-by-side at international gatherings and called each other Ronnie and Margaret. Two years ago, as they met for the final time before Reagan left office, the president said he was leaving the White House with "considerable satisfaction in the knowledge that Margaret Thatcher will still reside at No. 10 Downing Street." Reagan, who spent Thanksgiving with friends at his Bel-Air home, called her resignation in the face of strong opposition a "selfless and courageous decision in what she believes is the best interests of her country." The former chief executive was always grateful to Mrs. Thatcher's support of his conservative approach to foreign affairs during his own eight-year tenure. In 1986, when the U.S. bombing of Libya was criticized by world powers, Mrs. Thatcher was the only ally who supported Reagan and allowed the bombers to fly from British bases. When Britain fought Argentina for the Falkland Islands, the United States was forced to choose between two allies. Reagan sided with Mrs. Thatcher. She also encouraged Reagan's nurturing of the huge Pentagon buildup, and backed U.S. efforts to install medium-range missiles in Europe, despite opposition from NATO allies. Both leaders adopted a hard line toward the Soviet Union, but were quick to warm up to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev as the Cold War thawed. Reagan credited Mrs. Thatcher's "resoluteness" for playing a key role in ending the tensions between the Western democracies and the Eastern Block. "She stood up to the Soviets and let them know she meant business," he said. Both were ardent advocates of the free market and private enterprise. While the United States became mired in debt in the era of Reaganomics, the British economy thrived on Mrs. Thatcher's radical policies during her nearly 12-year rule. Average earnings were up by nearly one-third and more Britons owned their homes during her tenor. Like Reagan, however, Mrs. Thatcher was accused by liberals of widening the gap between the rich and poor in her country, and both clashed with organized labor. 
 Margaret Thatcher set the example of what a woman could achieve in British society, but her critics say she did little else to help women along. For some, it was enough that her political career reached the heights. One woman wrote to The Independent newspaper last week that her 7-year-old daughter wondered what title Mrs. Thatcher's successor would hold, since "he couldn't be called prime minister, that's a girl's name." Emma Nicholson, a Conservative Party lawmaker, said it was once unthinkable that a woman would ever be a British prime minister. "She has broken the mold once and forever," Ms. Nicholson said in an interview. Mrs. Thatcher, who trained as a chemist before studying law, said she viewed herself as prime minister, not as a woman. She believed the battle for women's rights had been largely won and was no believer in feminism. "What has it ever done for me?" she once asked. Mrs. Thatcher, who stepped down on Thursday, urged women to get involved in politics, but did little to pull them up the ladder. Several female lawmakers were appointed to junior executive posts in various ministries, but the only woman to serve in a Thatcher Cabinet was Baroness Young, leader of the House of Lords from 1981 to 1983. "The truth is that although Mrs. Thatcher is a woman, she doesn't believe in the advancement of women," Clare Short, a Labor Party lawmaker, said last month. Edwina Currie, a former junior health minister, said any other prime minister would have had several women in and out of the Cabinet. "It's Margaret's fault that the only people standing (to succeed her) wear trousers," Mrs. Currie said last week. Trree men are vying to succeed her as Conservative Party leader and thus prime minister in a vote by party lawmakers set for Tuesday. Traditional male attitudes remain strong in Britain, from the upper-crust, all-male clubs of London to the topless women pictured daily in the tabloid press. Women are paid less than men and are poorly represented in management jobs and in Parliament. However, campaigners for women rights say there are encouraging signs at the grassroots. "The critical mass of women have entered middle management in government and business," said Lesley Abdela, a founding member of the 300 Group. The group seeks equal representation for women in the 650-seat House of Commons, which now has 43 female members. Women represented 43 percent of the British labor force in 1988, compared with 40 percent in 1979 when Mrs. Thatcher became prime minister. Britain has a higher proportion of working women than other European Community countries. Though Mrs. Thatcher never made a priority of women's issues, she did introduce some helpful legislation: tax concessions for workplace nurseries; independent taxation for married women; and legislation to compel absent fathers to pay child benefits. But as prime minister, she angered feminists by often emphasizing women's traditional roles of homemakers and care-givers. Angela Rumbold, the Conservative Party's minister for women's issues, contends that an "enormous amount" has been done for women during the Thatcher years. "I'm not sure what she could have gone beyond promoting people who were there just because they were women," she said in an interview. "Margaret Thatcher is a great meritocrat. She believes in getting people to succeed on their merits." Jo Hawkins of the 300 Group, which is seeking equal numbers of women in the House of Commons, believes Mrs. Thatcher's extraordinary abilities made it difficult for her to understand the needs of the average woman. "She would say that anybody can do it, just stick to your principles and get up and do it," Ms. Hawkins said. "I think because of her character, her personality and her amazing self-confidence, she isn't aware of how the normal person struggles." 
 John Major, endorsed by Margaret Thatcher as the politician closest to her heart, was elected by the Conservative Party Tuesday night to succeed her as prime minister. Major, 47, fell two votes short of winning a majority in voting among the 372 Coservative Party members of Parliament, but his two opponents quickly conceded defeat and the party confirmed Major as the winner. Mrs. Thatcher, ending 11{ years in power, intended to submit her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday morning, and Major would then be called to lead the government. Major, the chancellor of the exchequer, emerged from his official residence at 11 Downing St. Tuesday night smiling and holding hands with his wife, Norma. Inside, Mrs. Thatcher, who came next door from the prime minister's 10 Downing Street residence, embraced Major. "I am thrilled and delighted that John Major is to succeed me," the "Iron Lady" said in a statement released by aides. "It is a very exciting thing to become leader of the Conservative Party, and particularly exciting, I think, to follow one of the most remarkable leaders the Conservative Party has ever had," Major said. "Our job now I think is quite clear. We are going to unite totally and absolutely, and we're going to win the next general election," said Major, who will be the youngest British prime minister in this century. Major received 185 votes, two short of a majority. Former Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine received 131 and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had 56. Hurd and Heseltine conceded within minutes, and party officials declared Major elected. The party had been torn by the sudden and unexpected leadership challenge by Heseltine, who last week stopped Mrs. Thatcher short of victory in the first round of the leadership race. Mrs. Thatcher had not wanted to leave office, but she decided to resign last week after she was unable to put down Heseltine's challenge. She said she resigned to let someone from the Cabinet stand against Heseltine. Major and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd both joined the race, but before the vote her aides spread the word that she was backing Major. The son of a circus performer and at one time a welfare recipient, Major personifies the values of self-reliance and hard work that Mrs. Thatcher had preached to the nation. His election climaxed a month of British politics-turned-upside down, and the Western world's longest-serving head of government was driven from office by a revolt in party ranks. Heading a government that was trailing the opposition Labor Party in the polls and suffering a losing streak in local Parliamentary elections, Mrs. Thatcher lost control of events after her deputy, Sir Geoffrey Howe, resigned on Nov. 1. Howe, the fourth Cabinet member to resign because of disputes over policy toward the European Community, shocked the House of Commons on Nov. 13 by calling Mrs. Thatcher a threat to Britain's vital interests. The next day, Heseltine announced he would challenge her. Six days later, with Mrs. Thatcher at a 34-nation summit in Paris officially ending the Cold War, Heseltine polled enough votes to deny her re-election as leader. Two days later, she decided to resign after party leaders told her she could not win. Heseltine, 57, said Major's election "lays the basis for the unity of our party." Hurd said the party needed to unite, and "John Major is the right leader for this task." Opposition leaders derided Major's election as "Thatcherism with a different face." The Conservatives' main rivals, the socialist Labor Party, demanded a general election. "John Major is a Thatcherette - that is how he sought election and that is how he got elected," said Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. "It means that the policies that brought the poll tax, recession, heavy mortgages and rising unemployment will go on." During his five-day campaign, Major had aaid he would review the "poll tax," an unpopular local tax brought in by Mrs. Thatcher, but he gave no other hints of differing with her. While adopting a gentler tone on the contentious issue of Britain's involvement in Europe, he shares her opposition to a single European currency and shares her belief in tight restraint on government spending. However, he insisted over the weekend, "I am not running as `Son of Thatcher.' I am running as myself, with my own priorities and my own programs." Major's victory ended a patient, four-year campaign by Heseltine to promote himself as a future leader of the party. "Tomorrow always dawns," he said, smiling after conceding defeat. Major was elected to Parliament in 1979, was appointed foreign secretary and then chancellor of the exchequer last year. He moved up quickly in the leadership race. By the weekend, opinion polls showed that Major was nearly as highly regarded by the public as was Heseltine, who has been prominent for a decade. Major attracted support from figures on the right wing of the Conservative Party, although his friends insisted Major's own views were more liberal than many supposed. He described himself as conservative on economic issues but liberal on social issues. 
 Dozens of fans of rock legend and former Beatle John Lennon gathered in the snow on a windy Saturday for a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of his death. Liverpool's mayor, Dorothy Gavin, led Lennon devotees who laid wreaths at the foot of a bronze statue of The Beatles in the city's Cavern Walks shopping center. The center was built on the original site of the Cavern Club, made famous when The Beatles played there in the 1960s, and has become a place of pilgrimage. "Give peace a chance," the title of one of singer-songwriter Lennon's greatest hits, was the theme for the day. Many friends and followers of Lennon were present, including Father Tom McKenzie, immortalized as Father MacKenzie in The Beatles' l966 hit song "Eleanor Rigby." On Friday, a small group of invited guests had gathered at Liverpool's Beatles Museum to watch Mrs. Gavin unveil a plaque marking the 10th anniversary of Lennon's death. "John was always a son of Liverpool and over the last 10 years Liverpool has been very slow to recognize the fact that the Beatles came from Liverpool," said Lennon biographer Ray Coleman after the unveiling. "It is right that a world figure like Lennon should be recognized at last," said Coleman, author of "John Lennon." Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning to their apartment in New York's Dakota apartment building after a recording session on Dec. 8, 1980, when Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan to whom Lennon had given his autograph only hours before. Lennon was 40. A spokesman for the Lennon family said Ms. Ono and the couple's son, Sean, were in Europe and would spend the anniversary privately. Journalist Andy Peebles, the last person to interview Lennon before he was shot, said in an interview with Sky satellitetelevision news: "Ten years on, it's a ghastly feeling to think that you had spent ... seven hours ... with somebody you have been a fan of for years, and I think I left ... thinking `This is great, he's in really good shape."' Peebles said late in 1980 that Lennon had just recovered from a period when he had "gone off the rails" and his relationship with Ms. Ono had suffered. "But (when I saw him) they'd had the baby, Sean had been born, and everything was great." 
 A ranking member of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's party demanded the Soviet Union hand over Erich Honecker, who is wanted by German authorities on manslaughter charges, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Federal lawmaker Johannes Gerster said refusal to turn over the deposed East German leader for trial could "burden" Bonn and Moscow's "outstanding relations," the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung newspaper reported. A Berlin court has issued an arrest warrant for Honecker, 78, on the manslaughter charges. He is accused of issuing shoot-to-kill orders to East German guards at the now-fallen Berlin Wall. Honecker has denied all charges against him, including that he was personally responsible for the estimated 200 people who died trying to escape his repressive government. He has taken refuge at a Soviet military hospital in Beelitz, outside Berlin. Soviet officials have said Honecker is staying at the hospital for humanitarian reasons, and German police need permission from the Soviets to gain entry. "I demand that the Soviet government immediately release Erich Honecker and extradite him to German justice officials," the Osnabrueck newspaper quoted Gerster, a member of Kohl's Christian Democrats, as saying. Honecker's fate is one of the first issues facing Bonn and Moscow since they signed several treaties designed to draw the two nations closer together. 
 Chief Petty Officer Lance Vickery recalls waves tumbling into the stern of the bobbing ferry headed back to the USS Saratoga and joking, "Whoa, looks like we're flooding." Only minutes later, his words came true, turning a simple ride back from Christmas shore leave into a harrowing fight to survive. The Israeli ferry Tuvia capsized shortly after midnight on Saturday, throwing more than 100 men into the cold waters of Haifa Bay. At least 19 sailors drowned, and scores were injured. The sailors were part of the multinational force arrayed against Iraq. Vickery, 33, was among four American sailors interviewed at Haifa's Rambam Hospital. He is from Jacksonville, Fla., is not far from Mayport, the Saragota's home port. Three of the sailors said the boat had been taking on water over the stern in heavy seas, then capsized when it was hit by a big wave. Vickery said the fatal wave came about a minute after he had cracked his joke. "All of a sudden, I saw water just come flying in," he said. "And it was maybe two seconds, and the boat rolled right over." The 13-year veteran sailor found himself trapped in the ferry's cabin, frantically struggling to find a window as the ship sank. "I started breathing in water and almost died," Vickery said. "If I had been under the water maybe another 30 seconds, I wouldn't be lying here right now. I'd be in one of those body bags out there." When he made his way to the surface he found "guys floating everywhere, screaming and yelling like chaos." Despite his own predicament, he grabbed a struggling fellow sailor by the collar and dragged him toward a floating, plastic foam life ring. One rescue boat, already overloaded, passed by and threw life preservers. In what "seemed like an hour," another boat came, also full. "So they just dragged us through the water back to the Saratoga, and I was a real happy person to see those guys snatching me up," he said. As Vickery was being treated for bleeding lungs caused by water inhalation, his hospital roommate, Seaman Michael Benjamin, 19, of San Antonio, Texas, was recovering from a neck injury suffered when a rescue boat hit him while he was in the water. Both were wearing blue hospital pajamas and, when they walked to the visiting room's balcony could see the Saratoga anchored outside the Haifa harbor. Benjamin, who has been in the navy for just a year, said the ferry had been jostled in heavy seas. "As we were going on the waves, I just noticed one that was bigger than normal and then another one that was bigger than normal," he said. "The next thing I know, all I saw coming in was water," he said. Benjamin said he dove from the ferry, then had to swim frantically to get away from the suction of the sinking boat. Clinging to a foam plastic float, he was passed by one rescue boat and hit by a second. "I looked around and I see this big hull coming at me and we were all yelling, but I guess the ship didn't see us," he said. "I was trying to get out of the way, but I got hit by the ship." Dazed, Benjamin stripped off his jacket, shirt and shoes and kept treading water until he found a piece of driftwood to cling to. "I was scared," he admitted. "I was having a hard time staying up in the water." A rescue ship picked him up, he estimated, about a half hour to 45 minutes later. Two other men interviewed at Rambam Hospital identified themselves as Technician John Richards, 31, of Twin Lake, Mich., and Airman Lamont Jones, 20, of Claremont, Va. Both were breathing with difficulty despite gas masks. Richards recalled seeing a large wave and feeling the ship heeling to one side. "All I can remember thinking is, `Oh my God, it's sinking,' and then I was scrambling for my life," he said faintly. 
 Moldavia, acting to defuse one of the Soviet Union's most explosive ethnic conflicts, agreed Sunday to comply with a Kremlin order to reconsider its law making Moldavian the republic's official language. The republic's parliament acted in response to a decree issued on Dec. 22 by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the official news agency Tass reported. Gorbachev also gave the republic 10 days to dissolve a new national guard and to come up with measures guaranteeing equal rights for all ethnic groups within its borders. Tass said the Moldavan parliament agreed to disband the nationalguard and to revise a law that Gorbachev said restricted the rights of minorities. Ethnic tension has gripped Moldavia, a largely agricultural republic bordering Romania, during its push for independence from the Soviet Union this year. The unrest turned violent last month, when government troops clashed with activists, leaving four dead. Gorbachev said the conflicts had reached "critical levels," and he put part of the blame on the Moldavian Supreme Soviet for enacting laws that discriminate against minorities. Alarmed by rising Moldavian nationalism, two of the republic's minority groups have begun their own separatist movements. The Gagauz, a group of about 150,000 Turkish Christians, declared a new republic in southern Moldavia. In the eastern part of Moldavia, more than 300,000 ethnic Russians and Ukrainians have joined in declaring a new republic along the Dneister River. All three groups claim discrimination by Moldavians. In particular, they resent a new law making Moldavian the official language and requiring people in dozens of jobs ranging from doctors to hairdressers to pass Moldavian language tests by 1995. Tass did not say how the Moldavian parliament would modify the law. Moldavian is identical to Romanian except for the Cyrillic script Josef Stalin imposed on the republic. It is spoken by two-thirds of the republic's residents. Soviet hard-liners want Gorbachev to impose a state of emergency and presidential rule in troubled zones throughout the ethnically and geographically diverse country. Gorbachev said the declaration of the Gagauz and Dniester republics was illegal under the Soviet and Moldavian constitutions, as were elections to form legislatures and any actions by those bodies. The Moldavian legislature has also voted to declare the elections null and void. After residents of the Gagauz region began holding local elections in late October, the Moldavian legislature clamped a two-month state of emergency on the region, restricting movement in and out of the area and banning public rallies. Volunteer brigades of college-age Moldavians, who then flocked to the region to try to stop the separatist movement, were ordered dissolved by Gorbachev's decree. The volunteers were organized by nationalist groups, including the Moldavian People's Front. 
 Language: <F P=105> Arabic </F> Article Type:BFN <F P=106> ["Highlights" column by Fahd al-Fanik: "The New U.S. </F> Ambassador"] [Text] The new U.S. ambassador to Jordan, Wesley Egan, is a heavyweight. Once the second man in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, he also served in Saudi Arabia, two African countries, and a European nation. His choice for the new job signals the importance the United States attaches to Jordan in terms of inter-Arab politics and the Arab-Israeli dispute. Before Egan's appointment became final, he had to go through a grueling test in the U.S. Senate, where Senator Daniel Moynihan, the Zionist Democrat from New York, presided over the hearing that scrutinized the would-be ambassador's credentials and went on to confirm his nomination. In his testimony, Egan told the hearing he would work to develop relations between the United States and Jordan and enhance Jordan's role in the peace process. He pointed out that Jordan signed a joint agenda with Israel that will presumably culminate in a peace treaty between the two countries. His said his top priority in Amman will be to propel the peace process forward and recognize Jordan's energetic role in the effort to bring about a comprehensive Middle East peace. Mr. Egan will pay special attention to stability in Jordan, and watch its democratic march and economic development. He will also watch Jordan's approach to a number of other issues: human rights, compliance with the sanctions resolution against Iraq, terminating the boycott of U.S. companies doing business with Israel, the potential for foreign investment both in Jordan and elsewhere in the region, and the fight against terrorism. Much as I take exception to some of the issues that will engage the new ambassador's attention, I concern myself here with a lecture Moynihan delivered at the confirmation hearing. Discussing the West Bank and Gaza, he dismissed as inappropriate the designation attached to them as occupied territories, and asked: If these are occupied territories, who were they occupied by? These territories, contended the senator, were never the sovereign domain of anyone; it was Jordan that occupied the West Bank at the founding of the state of Israel. What Israel did was to take the West Bank from Jordan the way it took Gaza from Egypt. Previously, these territories were part of the British mandate, and before that they fell within the realm of the Ottoman Empire. Mr. Moynihan's point, in other words, is that these territories are up for grabs. The United States, he noted, never recognized Jordan's sovereignty over the West Bank. His bottom line: Israel did not occupy territory that was under another nation's sovereignty. This Zionist senator's remarks are not supposed to be Washington's official line. However, they do mirror an undeclared U.S. line dictated by the all-powerful Zionist lobby -- a line that is now all but declared with the bizarre voting stance of the United States toward the UN Security Council resolution condemning the Hebron massacre. 
 Language: <F P=105> English </F> Article Type:BFN [Text] Washington, February 28 (XINHUA) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton, trying to brush aside recent differences with London, today stressed Washington's special transatlantic relationship with Britain. Welcoming British Prime Minister John Major in Pittsburgh, where major's grandfather and father once lived, Clinton said at the airport, "We're working together today to respond to the terrible tragedy in Bosnia to try to bring an end to the killing and to bring peace and to keep that conflict from spreading." For his part, Major said, pressure would be increased for the peace that every sensitive person wishes to see in that war-torn and troubled land. On Russia, Major said "A Russia that's a good neighbor to the United States and West would be one of the finest things that this generation could hand down to the next." Clinton will then share his Air Force One back to the nation's capital. Major will spend a night at the White House, the first foreign head of state to have this honor since Clinton became President. On Tuesday [1 March], the two leaders will begin their discussions on a wide range of issues including Russia, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the world trade. The two will also discuss Northern Ireland and "what to do with NATO," Clinton said. Clinton and major will meet again in June in Europe during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of D-Day of the second world war. Major said Clinton would visit Britain, and perhaps the Oxford University, Clinton's alma mater, during the June visit. 
 BFN <F P=106> [Colin Brown article: "Cabinet Allies Close Ranks But Bring </F> Scant Relief to Major"] [Text] Cabinet ministers rallied behind John Major yesterday by insisting there would be no leadership election this autumn. But the concerted show of support failed to dispel doubts among Tory MPs about his chances of staying in office. Right-wing MPs confirmed the findings in an INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY/NOP [National Opinion Poll] poll that Michael Heseltine was the favourite to replace Mr Major, if he is forced out. But they are calculating that Michael Portillo will run hard to secure Eurosceptic policies from the eventual winner. Some of Mr Major's closest allies were seething with anger at Mr Heseltine and Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor, for "posturing" before the damaging retreat last week by the Prime Minister over Britain's veto powers in the enlarged European Union. "Why were Clarke and Heseltine trying to sound more Portilloesque than Portillo? The answer's pretty obvious," said one Cabinet minister. The leadership is hoping that over the Easter recess the Conservative constituencies will urge their MPs to stop the damaging in-fighting which they believe is overshadowing the Government's fightback on the economy, law and order and education. That message was reinforced by three Cabinet ministers who broke their Easter Sundays to support Mr Major. John Patten, the Secretary of State for Education, said: "He is a man of very great resilience. It must be tough for him. No one likes the level of criticism he has been getting. But he will be carrying on a 20- to 30-year programme begun in 1979 through to the next general election." Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, said: "There is no prospect of any leadership contest. John Major is going to lead the Conservative Party successfully into the next general election." He dismissed one poll of 100 MPs which showed that 41 of them believed there would be a change of leadership. Lord Wakeham, Leader of the House of Lords, used a letter to his former constituency of Colchester South to issue a general call to Tories for loyalty to Mr Major. "Our support for him should not only be loyalty to a proven winner, but also backing for a man who has ideas, ambitions and ability to take Britain to success in the 21st century," Lord Wakeham said. Their calls were described as "ritualistic" by one leading right-wing Tory MP. "John Major has done himself great damage. There will not be a coup next week. It will depend on how we do in the local and European elections. But there will be a stalking horse candidate this autumn. There's little doubt about that," he said. However, Tory right wingers said last night that they would support Mr Major because there was no credible right-wing candidate. Mr Portillo, 40, was too young and they still regarded Mr Heseltine as an interventionist left-winger. If a challenge does take place, they will press Mr Portillo to stand to secure key commitments, including no British entry into a single European currency. Three of the Tory MPs who have been rumoured as possible stalking horses -- Teresa Gorman, Tony Marlow and Sir Richard Body -- appeared to rule themselves out. The odds against Mr Major surviving have shortened from evens to 11/10 against over the past 24 hours. The Prime Minister told journalists at his Huntingdon Conservative Club at the weekend that he would not be forced out by the speculation. "It hasn't stopped me in the past two years. It isn't going to stop me now." 
 BFN <F P=106> [Editorial: "There Are Signs of Conservative Party Changing </F> Its Leader"] [Text] In local government elections across Britain yesterday, the Conservatives suffered their worst defeat ever, losing control of 17 regional councils and 444 seats. As the ruling party, the Tories took just 27 percent of the vote, two percentage points lower than their rating in the polls. The results of the local elections showed that the Tories were reduced to the third party nationally, behind the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party. The Labour Party controls 90 local councils, whereas the Conservatives only control 13, with a sharp contrast in strength between the two sides. The Liberal Democrats had a net gain of 378 seats. Even some former Conservative members of parliament announced publicly to reporters that they would vote for the Liberal Democrats. Of course, this was a measure taken by Tories under circumstances of an inevitable defeat to reduce losses by encouraging constituents, who resent the Tories, to vote for the Liberal Democrats rather than Labour. In the deep sorrow of defeat, some Conservatives are secretly feeling happy. They resent John Major's leadership, and would most willingly link Major's incompetence and lack of vision with the bitter defeat in the local elections. Even before all of the results were known, some Tories openly announced their determination to challenge John Major's position and remove him from office as early as possible. The right-winger Michael Portillo added salt to the wound by starting a dispute over the European issue, and highlighted John Major's image as a loser who fails to command. Obviously, all of these actions were long planned and are aimed at making John Major suffer an even greater defeat in the European Parliament elections scheduled for 9 June. Before 9 June, nobody will officially challenge for the position of party leader. But he who is in office must suffer the pain of electoral defeat. After 9 June, John Major will have to answer for all of the disasters, and it is time to use him as a scapegoat. John Major is someone who was propped up by Mrs. Thatcher, who supported appointing the mediocre John Major as her successor when she was utterly isolated so that one day she would be able to pull strings from behind the scenes and continue to pursue the Thatcher line. Nevertheless, people around John Major seriously pushed him to betray Thatcher's doctrine, while pursuing entirely new "leftist" policies and affecting John Major's moves. For a very long period, right-wingers and left-wingers argued over many domestic and world issues. John Major has always been weak and powerless, and vacillates to the left and to the right resulting in his own "crisis of honor." On the European issue, he stressed the imperative of maintaining the sovereignty, cultural traditions, and life-style of each country of the future European Union, while reflecting the islanders' mind set. On the one hand, he expressed the will to join the European family; on the other, he made one big stride closer to the right. While great skill is needed to have one's bread buttered on both sides, John Major has been relatively stupid in such circumstance. When expounding on such concepts, he set out a campaign to "return to basic values," with an emphasis on citizen self-discipline, taking social responsibility and obligations, and being upright. However, one scandal surfaced after another in his cabinet; consequently, British citizens saw how bombastic Major could be and how he failed to know himself. The scandals caused Major's reputation to collapse. For a long time, John Major has failed to resolve the economic crisis and has seriously jeopardized the interests of British people, who have become poorer with each passing day and suffer from a high rate of unemployment. At this critical juncture, John Major went back on promises made during the election campaign by increasing value-added tax on domestic fuel; as a result, things became even harder for the poor. He promised to reduce public expenditure, but on the contrary, it rose by 45.5 percent. [as published] John Major has become an expert in making "empty promises," while constituents continue to scorn this dishonest prime minister. Many Conservatives believe that John Major is driven by a gambler's mind set. At a time when his reputation was waning, he wanted to start an offensive in the arena of difficult world issues, regardless of British national strength. This being the case, he wanted to try his luck in Bosnia, as well as policy toward China; however, he was helpless in dealing with domestic economic issues which would only lead Britain to an impasse. It will be difficult for John Major to lead the Tories in the next general election; therefore, news spread earlier this year that John Major would be replaced. The setback which has resulted from defeats in the local elections is heavier than expected. To accelerate a leadership reshuffle, Conservatives have spread the opinion that "John Major is not up to his office." However, if politicians from various factions compete for office by taking a laissez-faire attitude, the Tory unity will be jeopardized. This being the case, a planned transfer of power, especially the reorganization of the cabinet and the replacement of the party chairman, is necessary. When the new party chairman is elected, the question of who will replace John Major will be settled too. Word has spread that John Major wants Chris Patten to become Conservative Party chairman; however, this proposal was rejected. That should have been a party secret; making public such an inside story would only provide evidence of political reality, namely, many Conservatives did not agree to Chris Patten contending for this position. There are no grounds to allow a politician who has lost a previous electoral campaign to canvass votes in the next one under unfavorable electoral circumstances. That would only aggravate the Tory's poor image as a party which enjoys little public support and has few talents. In actual fact, should John Major set out such a line in appointing people, that would only give more evidence of his poor ability, insight, and lack of judgment, as well as his self-knowledge. Now, it is just a matter of time until he leaves office; but nobody will let him make arrangements for the transfer of power. Work to seek a new leader will be conducted by veteran Tories; how can John Major be qualified for such a task? 
 BFN [Text] Changsha, June 19 (XINHUA) -- This capital of central China's Hunan province has been hit by floods in the wake of a succession of rainstorms on the upper and middle reaches of the Xiangjiang River. The water level of the river, which flows through Changsha, is still rising sharply, according to local sources. By four o'clock this afternoon the level recorded at the Changsha monitoring station had risen to 38.93 m, some 0.56 m higher than the highest figure ever previously recorded. The flood has caused serious losses to people along both banks of the river, especially in Changsha, according to the sources. In the early hours of yesterday six villages and one fishing ground at Yulushan township were flooded when an embankment collapsed. Most of the 15,000 people affected by the flood there have been evacuated to safer places. By six o'clock yesterday afternoon 19 dykes in the Changsha area had collapsed, and a total of 128,000 urban and rural residents had been affected. A partial collapse of the grand Longwangang embankment at the Xihu fishing ground in the Wangyuehu district of Changsha has put the lives and property of 60,000 people in danger. But thanks to the concerted rescue efforts of 2,000 local cadres, residents and soldiers there was no loss of life. The city government of Changsha has asked residents within the endangered areas to relocate themselves and remove their property to safer places, in case of the occurrence of more serious flooding. By the early hours of this morning roads and surfaces of bridges in the Wangyuehu district had been inundated. The flood waters had also reached the boulevard along the Xiangjiang River, Xiahe Street and the western part of Zhongshan Street in Changsha proper. So far, more than 500,000 soldiers and local residents have moved in to help fight the floods. Meanwhile, the Changsha city committee of the Communist Party has held an emergency meeting, urging all departments and the people of the whole city to carry forward the spirit of continuous fighting and unite as one in battling the floods. Wang Maolin, secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, who is now in the province's southern city of Zhuzhou to direct anti-flood efforts there. In a telephone call to the Changsha city government, he called on local officials to adopt effective measures, ensure the safety of the lives and property of the residents of Changsha and make an overall success of the work to conquer the flood. 
 BFN [Text] Beijing, June 20 (XINHUA) -- Floods continue to have serious effects in Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Information from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters revealed that the flood peak on the Xijiang River today reached Guangdong Province. By eight o'clock yesterday morning, a peak flood water level of 25.91 m [meters] was recorded at the flood monitoring station of Guangxi's Wuzhou city, 10.91 m above the danger level. Flood water has entered urban and suburban areas of Wuzhou city, and most of its transport and telecommunications with the outside were suspended. This city borders Guangdong and lies on the Xunjiang River, the name for the upper reaches of the Xijiang River. The speed of the flood-water was recorded as 46,200 cu [cubic] m per second, the most ferocious since the founding of New China in 1949. The flood peak on the Beijiang River in Guangdong Province passed through Qingyuan city by 23:00 hours last night, and the water level was recorded as 14.72 m, about 4.22 m above the danger mark; the speed was 17,400 cu m per second. Flood control work in the Pearl River (Zhujiang) Delta area is also very intense. The State Council, China's highest governing body, recently sent a joint working group formed by the Ministries of Water Resources, Construction and Civil Affairs to help fight floods in Guangxi and in Guangdong. At 11 o'clock on Saturday, the flood peak on the Xiangjiang River passed through Changsha city, capital of central China's Hunan Province. The water level recorded at the local monitoring station was 38.93 m, some 3.93 m above danger level. High flood water levels were also recorded at Hengyang and Xiangtan cities. About 118 towns of eight prefectures and cities along the Xiangjiang River were flooded. Flood water has also entered more than 20 streets and lanes of Changsha, and more than 300,000 city dwellers were affected. More than 400 factories and 5,000 shops were forced to stop production or stop business. More than half a million Armymen and local residents, under the leadership of the Hunan provincial party provincial committee and provincial people's government, are going all out to fight the flood. By 22:00 hours last night, the flood peak passed through Nanchang city, provincial capital of Jiangxi. Statistics from the local monitoring station show that the flood water level was 25.42 m, about 2.62 m above the danger mark, and the speed of the flood was 19,100 cu m per second. The Jiangxi provincial party committee and people's government are mobilizing local people and the troops stationed there to combat the floods. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has sent special teams of people to help fight floods in Hunan and Jiangxi. Meanwhile, drought is continuing to blight most areas of northern China and northeastern China, with about 15.3 million hectares of land affected. In the drought-stricken areas, 12 million people and 12 million head of livestock are short of drinking water, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. 
 BFN [Text] Guangzhou, 19 Jun (XINHUA) -- Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Li Peng, premier of the State Council, are very much concerned about floods in Guangdong Province. Recently, they repeatedly inquired about the flood situation in the Zhu Jiang valley, particularly that of Bei Jiang and Xi Jiang. They expressed their deep concern for the people in the flood-hit areas, as well as extended their warm greetings to the vast number of cadres, officers, and men of the People's Liberation Army; armed police officers; and public security police who battle on the frontline against floods and provide disaster relief. Jiang Zemin and Li Peng gave important directives for current flood prevention and disaster relief tasks in Guangdong. They expressed the hope that under the leadership of the Guangdong provincial party committee and government, the Guangdong army and people would make concerted efforts in disaster relief; earnestly help flood victims solve their living problems; and go all out to battle floods to ensure the safety of the Bei Jiang dike, Guangzhou city, and the Zhu Jiang Delta. 
 BFN [Text] Beijing, 21 Jun (XINHUA) -- According to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, after the largest or the second largest flood peaks since the liberation of China occurred a few days ago in the Xi Jiang, Bei Jiang, Xiang Jiang, and Gan Jiang rivers, water levels in these rivers are dropping slowly; however, high water levels will remain in these rivers for the next few days. Due to interaction of the Bei Jiang and Xi Jiang, the Zhujiang Delta will face a high water-level test. Heavy rainfall over a wide area since mid-June resulted in the largest flood waters since liberation of the country in the Xi Jiang, Bei Jiang, and Xiang Jiang rivers. The flood water in Guangdong's Xi Jiang crested in Gaoyao County on 20 June; the water level in Gaoyao's Xi Jiang dropped to 13.37 meters at 0600 today. A flood peak occured in Bei Jiang in Guangdong's Sanshui at 0400 on 20 June, raising the water level to 10.39 meters -- the largest flood level ever recorded. The water level droppped to 10.16 meters at 0600 today. Drops in water levels in Guangdong's Bei Jiang and Xi Jiang do not mean that Guangdong's flooding situations have eased, because flood waters in the Xi Jiang and Bei Jiang will remain at high levels for quite long a period and will enter the sea after the two flood waters jointly flow through the low-lying Zhujiang Delta. In particular, the sea tide may add to the flood waters on 25 June. With these factors combined, the Zhujiang Delta, which has a developed economy and a forest of factories, will face the most rigorous flood water test since the liberation of the country. The situation in the Xiang Jiang is also not an easy one. The flood peak passed Changsha on 19 June, but the water level at the Changsha Station was still at 25 meters at 0200 today [1800 GMT 20 June]. Because the water level has remained high for a long period, several dangerous situations have occured along the river's dikes. Dike reinforcing work needs to be stepped up. The flood peak in Gan Jiang entered Boyang Lake on 20 June. However, due to continued rains over the last few days, the water level in the upper reaches west of Ganzhou has begun to rise again. At 0800 today, the water level at the Ganzhou Station was 100.95 meters, 3.45 meters above the warning level. 
 BFN [Text] Fuzhou, June 22 (CNS) -- Flood lasting for ten or more days in Fujian Province has brought about heavy losses in agriculture there. According to the latest information offered by the Provincial Agricultural Bureau, a total area of 2.465 million mu of crops have been hit by the flood and of which, 446 000 mu of crops will have no yield, 1.957 million mu of grain have been heavily hit and some 300 million kilogram grain are expected to be lost. Among nine cities and prefectures in Fujian, those seriously hit by the flood are Sanming, Nanping, Ningde, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Putian. Of these, Sanming City is worst hit by the flood. In May, the city was hit by the heavy rainstorm and had big losses and now it suffers again from the flood with some 600 000 mu of crops damaged by flood and 200 million kilogram grain expected to be lost. Per capita possession of cultivated land in Fujian is only 0.05 mu. Even if in the normal years, grain output there is not self- sufficient. The consecutive flood has made agricultural production situation there more grim. Disaster-relief groups have been sent to the flood-stricken areas striving for minimizing losses. 
 BFN [Text] Comrade Wen Jiabao [member of CPC Central Committee Secretariat] and his party left Changsha for Zhuzhou and Xiangtan yesterday. He inspected the flooded areas, including Zhuzhou City's Xiawan dike, the Hexi New and High Technology Development Zone, and Linghuayuan and Xiangtan's Yangtianhu, Xingxiadi, Zhoujiangdi, and Shiwandalou, where rescue and relief work was in full swing. After listening to reports submitted by the two cities on their efforts to fight the flooding and do relief work, he issued important instructions. Comrade Wen Jiabao fully affirmed the initial victories that the two cities have scored in their flood fighting and relief work under the leadership of the provincial party committee and government. He said: In fighting floods and doing relief work, the broad masses of cadres and people in Zhuzhou and Xiangtan sacrificed their interests to rescue a large number of industrial and mining enterprises, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the 107 National Highway, and cities and thus minimized the losses caused by floods. This fully shows that, with party leadership and the socialist system, we will be able to overcome all difficulties. Regarding the work in the next stage, he pointed out: We should continue to take flood fighting and relief tasks as the focus of our current work and simultaneously do a good job of reform, opening up to the outside world, stability, other fields of work, and industrial and agricultural production. He said: After the water recedes, we should firmly grasp the opportunity and repair the damaged dikes and embankments. As the highest flood season has not yet arrived, we should be prepared at any time to meet new flood peaks head-on rather than slacken our efforts. We should try every possible means to provide food, clothing, and shelter to flood victims, pay special attention to preventing and curing diseases, and concentrate efforts on the resumption of production and the reconstruction of homes. He particularly stressed: The current flooding has revealed problems in the construction of water conservancy facilities and urban flood control. In the past, inadequate consideration has been given to urban flood control and the coordination of urban and rural flood control. In the next step, we should earnestly draw a lesson from this negative experience. Governor Chen Bangzhu urged the party committees and governments of Zhuzhou and Xiangtan to convey Comrade Wen Jiabao's regards and instructions on behalf of the party Central Committee and the State Council for the broad masses of cadres and people to the party committees and governments at all levels as soon as possible, earnestly implement them, and effectively carry out the work of fighting floods, doing relief work, and helping oneself by engaging in production. 
 BFN [Text] Guangzhou, June 23 (XINHUA) -- The highest flood peaks on the Xijiang and Beijiang Rivers have passed, said Zhu Senlin, governor of south China's Guangdong Province. While inspecting flood control and relief work in Qingyuan city on the Beijiang River yesterday, he attributed Guangdong's success in combating this flood -- almost the biggest in 100 years -- to concerted efforts by the armymen stationed in Guangdong and local residents. More than 200 people lost their lives in the natural disaster, which destroyed 189,000 rooms and ruined crops on 1.2 million hectares. The flood was caused by successive torrential rainstorms in the Xijiang and Beijiang River valleys in early and middle June. Major flood monitoring stations on the two rivers recorded their highest water levels, all four meters above the danger mark. Local governments at various levels in the province have paid close attention to flood control work, and leading government and communist party officials of different localities have gone to the flood-fighting front. No breaches of major embankments or reservoirs were reported despite the most serious flood in a hundred years, effectively protecting the safety of the provincial capital, Guangzhou, and the Pearl (Zhujiang) River Delta. But the losses caused by the flood were quite serious, said the governor. According to him, 11 million people in the province's nine cities and 55 counties were affected, and more than 200 people died in the natural disaster, with 189,000 rooms destroyed and 1.2 million hectares of crops ruined. The direct economic losses were set at 10.2 billion yuan. The governor warned that though the flood danger had receded, the determination to fight possible further floods could not slacken, as this is just the beginning: the main flood season, which usually begins in late July and early August, has not yet arrived. He urged local officials to be on constant alert against further possible floods and be meticulous about flood prevention and control measures, while doing their utmost to help flood victims, assisting them to resume production as soon as possible and maintaining social stability. 
 BFN [Text] The following is a recorded report filed by this station's reporter on the front lines of the province's battle against the flooding yesterday. [Begin recording] Dear audience, it is now almost noon on 20 June. I'm reporting in Changshanyuan at the eastern gate of Changsha City. This morning, Provincial Party Committee Secretary Wang Maolin, provincial Governor Chen Bangzhu, and some other provincial party and government leaders arrived here in Changshayuan, on the front line of the province's flood resistance effort, to direct the fight against the flooding. Governor Chen Bangzhu and vice Governor Zheng Peimin just arrived back in Changsha at about 0700 this morning after attending a Beijing meeting. As soon as they stepped out from the train, they set out for Changshayuan, the front line of the province's flood resistance. I interviewed Governor Chen Bangzhu here on the spot. [Reporter] How are you, Governor Chen? You have inspected some flood-stricken areas in Changsha City this morning. Will you please tell our audience something about the province's flood situation? [Governor] This year, Hunan has been hit by a flood of a severity unseen for the past 100 years in terms of both water level and quantity. Over the past few days, the broad masses of Army personnel and people across the province have been bravely fighting the flood and have been making concerted efforts to provide disaster relief to afflicted areas, with the result that some of the province's key dams have remained sound and economic losses have been reduced to a minimum. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warm regards and thanks to the broad masses of Army personnel and people fighting in the front lines of the province's battle against the flood. At the moment, the province's flood situation remains very serious, because the water level is still high. According to weather forecasts and meteorological reports, the province is expecting more rain to fall over the next few days. We will definitely encounter more hardships and difficulties. Under the current circumstances, the broad masses of Army personnel and people across the province should further step up their work and devote more energy to flood prevention and disaster relief work, this being an overriding task at the moment. We are full of confidence that, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the broad masses of the Hunan Army personnel and people will be able to overcome the difficulties and hardships caused by natural calamities such as flooding, waterlogging, and so on and will win a complete victory in the on-going flood prevention and disaster relief struggle. [end recording] 
 BFN <F P=106> [By JIANGXI RIBAO reporter Zhang Wei (1728 3555) and XINHUA </F> reporter Wu Huaguo (0702 5478 0948)] [Text] Nanchang, 24 Jun (XINHUA) -- A central work team led Wen Jiabao, alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, arrived in Jiangxi from Hunan this morning to provide on-the-spot guideance for Jiangxi to conduct flood-fighting and relief work and to resume industrial and agricultural production. Immediately after disembarking from the plane, Wen Jiabao and his party -- accompanied by Mao Zhiyong, secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, and Governor Wu Guanzheng -- successively rushed to the Nanchang Bridge, the Leigongao construction work site along the Nanchang-Jiujiang Highway which is reserved for vehicles, Weidong Village under Changling Town in Xinjian County, and Houtian Township's Sanzhou Village. They inspected the flood situation along the Ganjiang River, visited the masses of flood victims, and extended greetings and appreciation to the servicemembers and civilians who have been performing rescue and emergency tasks. The same evening, Wen Jiabao and his party earnestly listened to reports by the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and government on Jiangxi's flood situation and its flood-fighting and relief work. Wen Jiabao highly commended Jiangxi's servicemembers and people for their spirit that stresses fostering unity and coordinated efforts, striving to help and rescue themselves, and continually fighting when encountering extraordinarily disastrous floods. He also fully affirmed Jiangxi's preliminary victories in its flood-fighting and relief work. Wen Jiabao pointed out: At present, the Ganjiang River's water-level is declining, but the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and government are still facing very arduous tasks. While continually and properly conducting flood-fighting and relief work along the Ganjiang River valleys, we should stress flood-prevention in the Poyang Lake area and should promptly organize the masses in the disaster-stricken areas to resume production so as to be self-reliant and to rebuild their homes. Jiangxi is a major agricultural province. We should take measures to promptly salvage the early-ripening rice, and should expand the planting of late-ripening rice and autumn grain as much as possible so as to attain a bumper harvest of grain for the whole year. While carrying out flood-fighting and relief work, we should also continually and properly handle various tasks concerning reform, stability, and development in Jiangxi. It has been learned that on 25 June Wen Jiabao and his party will visit other localities including Xingan, Fengcheng, and Jian where the flooding has been the most serious. They will further inspect the flood situation and extend sympathy and solicitude to flood victims there. 
 BFN [Text] Beijing, June 26 (XINHUA) -- Floods have all receded along Xijiang, Beijiang, Xiangjiang and Ganjiang except at a section of the Xijiang River in Wuzhou city, Guangxi, a spokesman from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters announced today. The spokesman attributed the falling water level to the major water conservancy projects which help to mitigate losses. Meanwhile, he said, tension has been eased in the Pearl River delta as the latest tropical storm has been weakened after landing in Yangjiang city, Guangdong Province. Floods hit Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujiang and Zhejiang provinces following the first heavy rains and floods which typically hit China from the south to the north from June to August. Earlier reports said that successive torrential rainstorms in the Xijiang and Beijiang river valleys in early and mid-June resulted in a big flood, one of the most serious in 100 years, in Guangdong Province and caused heavy losses. Major flood monitoring stations on the two rivers recorded their highest water levels, all four meters above the warning level. In an urgent conference late yesterday, the Guangdong provincial government urged localities to help flood victims with food, shelter, clothing and medical care so that no one would die of hunger and no epidemic disease would break out in the flooded areas. The province has allocated 300 million kg of grain and 110 million yuan in cash along with over 10 million tons of such farm production supplies as chemical fertilizer and diesel oil to the flood-stricken areas. Meanwhile, 740 million yuan in loans and another 50 million yuan in donations have also been sent to flooded areas in Guangdong Province. While inspecting flood control and relief work in Jiangxi Province, through which the Ganjiang flows, Wen Jiabao, alternate member of the Political Bureau and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, said the flooded areas should work hard to mitigate losses through their own efforts and with support from various departments. While inspecting Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi, and Fengcheng, Xingang, Jian and Taihe, on June 24-26, Wen said the key to mitigating economic losses is to resume production as soon as possible. The localities should waste no time in implementing various measures to resume production and rehabilitate their homeland, he said. As one of China's major bread baskets, Jiangxi is of key importance to China in agricultural production, Wen said. It has a direct bearing on the grain supply in south China. He urged the local governments to farmers resume agricultural production. 
 BFN [Text] Viktor Alksnis, former USSR Supreme Soviet deputy, today reminded us of his existence. [Correspondent Irina Zaytseva] Viktor Alksnis, born 1950, Latvian, former deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR, soldier, resigned from the Army in order to fight for the restoration of the USSR. During the October events he left the White House with a head wound and was taken to hospital. After a long interval Viktor Alksnis held a news conference today in the Slavjanskaya Hotel. He began it with a short statement, the essence of which comes down to the fact that the adoption of the Latvian citizenship law violates not only human rights, but creates the conditions for a conflict similar, in his opinion, to the ones in Yugoslavia and the Caucasus. It was not only the Latvian Government Alksnis accused of this, but also the United States. According to him, during the latest visit to the United States by [Latvian President] Guntis Ulmanis, sanction was obtained for the adoption of the aforementioned discriminatory law. [Begin Alksnis recording] And thus carte blanche was given for mild ethnic cleansing of the Russian speaking population of the republic. [end recording] [Zaytseva] Apart from that, Alksnis added, according to information received from reliable sources, certain circles in Moscow want conflict in Latvia. [Begin Alksnis recording] A certain scenario exists to drive a so-called security corridor along the route Daugavpils-Yekabpils-Riga where stringent ethnic cleansing of the Latvian population will take place in reply to the mild ethnic cleansing of the Russian population in order to bring so-called independent Latvia to its knees. [end recording] [Zaytseva] Journalists asked for more precise information about what Alksnis called reliable sources. [Begin Alksnis recording] You understand that I cannot name these sources. But I can say that they are fairly authoritative. [end recording] [Zaytseva] Asked what he intends to do, Alksnis said his opportunities are unfortunately limited, and that is why he is appealing to journalists. In his opinion, only joint efforts can bring this information to the attention of world public opinion, point out the seriousness of this issue, and avoid the coming tragedy. 
 BFN [Text] Donetsk Oblast [no date as received] -- As UNIAN reported, miners at the "Ordzhonikidzevuhillya" coal production association and the "Yenakiyevo" and "Poltava" pits went on strike in Yenakiyevo on 27 June, demanding payment of wage arrears. The strike continued at these mines on 28 June. Some of the miners at the Karl Marx, "Chernovonyy Zhovten," "Chervonyy Profinter," and "Yunkom" pits joined the strike. A total of 1,200 of the association's 2,248 workers are on strike. A rally consisting of 350 miners was held on 28 June near the town council building where demands were made to pay the wages and dismiss the director general of the "Ordzhonikidzevuhillya" production association. A strike committee consisting of 12 persons was elected (one of the members is a former Komsomol leader and former USSR people's deputy Viktor Honcharov) and it was decided to continue the strike until the demands that had been raised have been completely fulfilled. On 28 June, 118 of 258 workers on the second shift at the "PivdennoDonbass" mine of the "Donetskvuhillya" production association in the town of Ugledar refused to start work for the same reasons -- delay in paying wages. After a meeting with the mine's director, who promised to pay the arrears, the miners on the third shift returned to work. On 27 June, all miners on the fourth shift at the "Karbomid" and "Pervomaysk" mines in Pervomaysk, Lugansk oblast, refused to start work (142 and 157 miners respectively). In the opinion of the mine's representatives, who wished not to be identified, the strike has a clear political hue -- to attempt to compromise the existing authorities and, particularly, President Leonid Kravchuk before the second round of presidential elections. According to some reports, among the leaders of the striking pits there are members of the Kuchma-Hrynyov Interregional Bloc of Reforms. As Kostyantyn Fesenko, chairman of the coal industry workers trade union, informed a UNIAN correspondent, Viktor Yushchenko, the chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, in a telephone conversation on 29 June, gave assurances that the money for the miners' wages as well as subsidies for the following month would be found and forwarded in the next few days. 
 BFN [Text] Berlin -- Erich Honecker, the former GDR head of state, died at his house in Santiago, Chile on Sunday morning [29 May], according to his lawyer. Lawyer Nicolas Becker, who had represented 81-year-old Honecker before the Berlin court in 1992 and early 1993, told DPA on Sunday afternoon that Honecker had rejected an operation. However, everything that was sensible had been done with regard to his cancer. Becker could not comment on the exact cause of Honecker's death. His colleague, Wolfgang Ziegler, had said earlier that the former most powerful man in the GDR had obviously died from his liver cancer. Becker said he did not know whether Honecker has left a will or where the funeral would be held. This will be decided by the family. He also said he cannot say whether Margot Honecker, who had informed Becker of her husband's death, will be allowed to stay in Chile. After being released from prison in 1993, Honecker had traveled to Santiago to join his daughter, who is married to a Chilean. Since then, he and his wife had been living in a house in a wealthy Santiago area. 
 BFN [Text] Buenos Aires, 23 May (NA) -- Today, the Foreign Ministry said that control operations carried out by the corvette Spiro against a Korean-flagged [as received] ship fishing illegally in Argentine waters were carried out "in accordance with international law and in coordination with the Foreign Ministry." The Foreign Ministry thus approved the intervention by the Argentine corvette when it discovered the Korean ship Chin Yuan Hsing violating Argentine jurisdictional waters on 21 May. The Argentine Navy reported today that the corvette Spiro stayed near the Korean ship "given the adverse weather conditions, and fulfilling its responsibilities of sea search and rescue." The Korean ship, which had been fishing illegally in Argentine waters, was sunk by its own crew after failing to answer to the Argentine ship's warnings. The crew was transferred to the Chin Chuan Hsing, which was sailing nearby and approached to rescue the crew of the sinking ship. The Navy reported that around 15 nautical miles off the coast of Malvinas and "in accordance with bilateral agreements with Great Britain, the Spiro transferred assistance responsibility to British authorities." The Foreign Ministry said "an understanding with the UK for operations in cases of uninterrupted persecution of illegally fishing ships was implemented." The Foreign Ministry also said the policy "is in accordance with the growing international opinion currently giving priority to the preservation, regulation, and the sustainable use of marine live resources and the effective punishment of violators of national laws on the matter." 
 BFN <F P=106> [Report by ITAR-TASS correspondent Galina Gridnyova] </F> [Text] Dushanbe 16 May TASS -- The Tajik Communist Party has called for the restoration of a renovated Soviet Union in the form of a federation as the only means to ensure the development of the political, economic, and spiritual potential of former Soviet republics. Tajik communists' leader Shodiy Shabdolov told ITAR-TASS on Monday [16 May]that the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the parade of sovereignty that followed it have led to economic and political chaos in all republics. Radical market reforms "imposed by quasi- democrats" and "wild privatisation" have enriched a small group of nouveau riches and plunged the rest of the population in poverty and hunger, he said. The mass drive for sovereignty was accompanied by armed inter-ethnic conflicts in many ex-Soviet republics and outburst of nationalism. Tajikistan was hit most hard. The civil war in the Republic claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people, Shabdolov said. He noted that the majority of the population support Tajik communists' call for the restoration of the Soviet Union. Over one million people, about two-thirds of the adult population, signed appeals "for unity, brotherhood and friendship of the peoples of the USSR" adopted by numerous conferences and meetings held all across the Republic. Supporters of the restoration of a renovated union held a founding congress of their movement in Dushanbe on Saturday. Apart from the communist party, the founders of the new movement include Tajik trade unions, the Union of Tajik Women, organisations of veterans and ethnic and cultural associations. "We are confident that our movement is growing so strong that it cannot be stopped," Shabdolov said. He stressed that it will act within the framework of the law and use only constitutional methods. "We are against barricades and use of force," he said. 
 A CEASEFIRE in Moldova was threatened yesterday when a truck driver transporting militiamen was shot dead by machinegun fire in the self-proclaimed Trans Dnestr republic, home of the Russian-speaking minority. The shooting came shortly after the ceasefire came into effect between the Moldovan authorities, dominated by ethnic Romanians, and the minority based in the republic on the east bank of the river Dnestr. At least nine people have been killed in clashes over the past week. As in the more severe conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the underlying tensions are growing and neither side believes it is losing. In other respects, however, the conflicts are quite different and illustrate the complexity of conflict with which the former Soviet Union is now faced. The Trans Dnestr conflict stems directly from the breakup of the Soviet Union while Nagorno-Karabakh has been a source of tension between Azeris and Armenians for centuries. Moldova (formerly Moldavia) was finally taken under full Soviet control in 1944. The Soviet leadership sought to stifle any attempts to preserve its former links with Romania - calling Moldovan a separate language from Romanian, and constructing a separate history for the Moldovan people. Industry was largely situated on the left bank of the Dnestr, in the sliver of the republic next to Ukraine, and largely staffed by Russians and Ukrainians. Ukrainians and Russians together represent some 27 per cent of the population, with Moldovans accounting for 64 per cent. The little republic (4.5m people) was slow to respond to the stirrings of reform. When it did, in 1989, a language movement quickly put the hardline Communist Party on the defensive and it lost power in 1990 to the present nationalist government, headed by President Mircea Snegur, the former secretary of the Moldovan Party's central committee. From the beginning of the nationalist movement, it was clear that the Russian and, to a lesser extent, the Ukrainian minorities would be hostile, reacting to laws establishing Moldovan as the official language and to calls for renewed union with Romania with strikes and demonstrations, and, finally last year, proclaiming Trans Dnestr independent under a Russian president, Mr Igor Smirnov. During the August coup last year, the Moldovan government stoutly rejected it and the Trans Dnestr authorities welcomed it, siding with the Soviet army in its brief efforts to impose military rule. Thereafter, the two sides have gathered military forces. The Trans Dnestr side has been augmented by Cossacks from nearby areas returning to their traditional role as defenders of Russia's borders. The daily Izvestia reported yesterday that the Cossacks appear to have appointed themselves mercenaries for the Russians (they are paid from Rbs2,000 to Rbs5,000 a week by the Trans Dnestr authorities). 
 TROOPS OF the former Soviet Union were ordered to pull out from the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh yesterday after they were fired on during clashes between Azeri and Armenian militants. Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the Commonwealth of Independent States' defence minister, announced the decision as fighting worsened in the disputed territory in spite of efforts to secure a truce. The enclave is administered by Azerbaijan but largely populated by Armenians. The order for the pull-out of the 366th motorised regiment follows the deaths earlier this week of a handful of soldiers caught in the fighting between Armenian guerrillas and Azerbaijani forces. Fighting flared again yesterday in the capital Stepanakert, where the regiment is based. Azerbaijani and Armenian officials claimed their civilian targets were under particularly vicious attack. Marshal Shaposhnikov, who is also commander-in-chief, has long warned that he would withdraw troops rather than allow them to become targets of ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union. No dates have been given for the withdrawal. Troops under fire along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border will also be withdrawn. Commanders of the Trans-Caucasus military district, which encompasses Georgia as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan, have been ordered to rebuff attacks on military installations. Azeri and Armenian officials say sophisticated weapons, including combat helicopters, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, are being used by guerrillas on both sides in the four-year-old conflict. Armenian militants attacked the last Azeri stronghold in Nagorno-Karabakh yesterday, according to Azerbaijan's interior ministry, which said residents of the town of Shusha fled as helicopter gunships swooped down from snow-covered mountains. Armenians in the enclave want unification with Armenia, but Azerbaijan will not give up any territory. 
 MR MICHAEL STONEY, a senior executive in a number of Maxwell companies, is named as one of three people primarily responsible for more than Pounds 180m of 'unusual' payments from Mirror Group Newspapers bank accounts during the last financial year, according to the chairman's statement released with MGN accounts yesterday. Mr Kevin Maxwell and Mr Ian Maxwell, two sons of the late Robert Maxwell, are named as the other two people most involved in these transactions. Mr Kevin Maxwell and Mr Stoney refused to provide MGN with information, the statement says. Sir Robert Clark, chairman of MGN, lists a series of transactions - some of which he stresses may have been perfectly legitimate - that took place in the past few months. He says legal action may be taken against a number of organisations, including Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, over more than Pounds 40m in transfers from MGN if the bank was aware that they were 'effected for improper purposes'. Notes to the accounts show that MGN made extraordinary provisions of Pounds 421.5m in the year to December 29 1991, including Pounds 208.6m in pension deficiencies and Pounds 122.4m in transactions with Maxwell-controlled companies. Sir Robert says that during the year there were at least 28 'unusual' payments for more than Pounds 1m from the group's bank accounts, making a total of more than Pounds 180m. 'Some may well ultimately be established to have arisen under legitimate transactions.' Nine of the payments were authorised solely by Robert Maxwell. The others were authorised mainly by Mr Kevin Maxwell, Mr Ian Maxwell and Mr Michael Stoney, he says. One transfer to Goldman Sachs was countersigned by Mr Ernest Burrington, former managing director, at the request of Mr Kevin Maxwell on the reported instruction of Robert Maxwell. Two authorisations were countersigned by Mr Lawrence Guest, former MGN finance director. Sir Robert says the MGN directors do not believe that either Mr Burrington or Mr Guest knew there was anything improper about these payments. With these exceptions, 'the independent directors . . . were not involved in, and did not authorise or approve any of these payments,' he says. Sir Robert says the group finance department accepted assurances from the treasury department - which was headed by Mr Stoney - about 'the nature of certain transactions' including payments to financial institutions which were recorded as deposits. 'The treasury department arranged for it to appear that sums of interest had been credited to the group in respect of those 'deposits',' he says. In his report Sir Robert points to 'certain weaknesses' accepted by the MGN board: Internal controls and operating procedures which failed to identify related party transactions and bring them to the attention of independent directors for approval; Bank mandates authorised by Robert Maxwell and Mr Stoney which permitted the movement of group funds on the authority of Maxwell or directors who were also directors of Maxwell-controlled companies; The audit committee of non-executive directors, which might have reviewed systems and mandates, but was not convened; The finance department's inadequate authority to verify and record the treasury department's activities. The report details a Pounds 50m loan made by Bankers Trust in London last October which appears to have been used to pay off a loan from Bankers Trust in New York to Robert Maxwell Group, parent of the Maxwell private interests, Separately, the statement highlights three transfers of more than Pounds 40m from MGN to Goldman Sachs - Pounds 11m of this was transferred on Robert Maxwell's signature to pay for previous dealings in Maxwell Communication Corporation stock. The balance was for foreign exchange trade exposures incurred by Bishopsgate Investment Trust and Robert Maxwell Group, it says. He says MGN is inquiring to see whether it can establish if Goldman Sachs was 'aware or should have been aware' that the transfers 'had been effected for improper purposes'. If so, he says 'it will be possible to seek orders against them . . . for the sums paid.' He says MGN is considering legal action against professional advisers in relation to property leases, and hopes to recover money through claims on insurance policies written on Robert Maxwell's life. 
 SAM WALTON was arguably the most important retailer of his generation. The son of an Oklahoma real-estate broker, he opened the first general store in what was to become the Wal-Mart chain in Bentonville, in the backwaters of Arkansas, in 1950, writes Martin Dickson. By 1991 the chain's sales had risen to nearly Dollars 44bn, making it the world's largest retailer in terms of revenues, and the Walton family probably America's richest. Wal-Mart now operates in 43 US states, selling goods ranging from detergents to golf clubs. The chain's success stemmed both from Mr Walton's personality and willingness to challenge accepted retailing orthodoxy. He was a frugal, modest man who worked extremely long hours from a spartan room in his Bentonville headquarters but delighted in getting out of the office to tour stores and meet customers and staff, whom he insisted on calling 'associates.' He would deliver pep-talks to employees extolling the virtues of thrift and customer satisfaction, long before these became fashionable management buzz-words. Employee satisfaction - an idea which is only now gaining wider acceptance in US service industries - was also a vital ingredient in the Walton philosophy. He buoyed staff morale with cheer-leading sessions, bonus payments for good performance and profit-sharing plans which allowed some employees of very modest means to retire relatively wealthy. Eight years ago, when Wal-Mart's profits were better than expected, he kept a promise to staff by dressing in a grass-skirt to dance the hula on Wall Street. Also essential to Wal-Mart's growth was its pioneering of high volume, cut-price retailing throughout the year, rather than the periodic sales which rivals relied on to generate customer loyalty. 'Low prices always' became Wal-Mart's motto. Mr Walton also disproved the conventional wisdom that large discount stores could not operate successfully in the small, rural towns of the US south. It was precisely such locations which became the bedrock of the business, though in the process Wal-Mart put out of business hundreds of small main street stores, prompting bitter resistance in some towns which Mr Walton tended to blunt with generous charitable donations. 
 ABOUT 20 banks became con-cerned last summer at the behaviour of businesses run by Robert Maxwell several months before he died and his business empire collapsed. Their concern arose when Maxwell Communication Corporation made late payments to them, a Financial Times investigation has discovered. Yet although some banks became alarmed at the implications for the financial health of his empire, they did not discuss their concerns with each other or with authorities such as the Bank of England. Mr Basil Brookes, MCC's former finance director, has described his shock to the FT at discovering last August that MCC had failed to settle foreign currency transactions with about 20 banks on time. Starting about July 4 1991, MCC's treasury, under the authority of Maxwell and his son, Kevin, had begun to buy and sell enormous amounts of foreign currencies. In these 'spot' transactions, MCC would buy a currency in one financial centre promising to make payment in another centre. On a number of occasions, MCC received the currency, but did not make the payment - thereby giving itself an unauthorised loan. Mr Brookes says about 20 banks, including Lloyds, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Swiss Bank Corporation, were involved in the flurry of foreign exchange deals. At least Dollars 100m (Pounds 55m) in unapproved credit is thought to have been raised this way. A former Maxwell employee said some appeared to have been channelled into private Maxwell businesses. One banker said attempts to raise money by making late payments in the foreign market was a relatively well-known ruse with the nickname called 'teaming and lading'. It also emerged yesterday that National Westminster Bank, the biggest lender to the Maxwell private companies, felt badly let down by Maxwell because he failed to deliver funds on time at the end of July. At a meeting between Maxwell and Mr John Melbourn, a NatWest director, on July 10, NatWest refused Maxwell's request for a loan of Pounds 45m. NatWest was upset three weeks later when it provided funds - less than Pounds 100m - to the Maxwell empire on the understanding that it would be repaid the same day, and then found that repayment was not made. NatWest was forced to convert this 'intra-day' transaction into a short-term loan, which was eventually repaid. The bank told both Robert Maxwell and Mr Kevin Maxwell that it was concerned that repayment had not been made, but it did not discuss the problem with other banks or with the Bank of England. Instead, it pressed on with its policy of reducing the size of its loans to the Maxwell businesses. NatWest's loans to the Maxwell empire now total Pounds 182m, half the level of two years ago. Later last year, Robert Maxwell made many repayments to banks by looting pension fund assets and also carrying out unusual fundraising exercises with US investment banks, from which tens of millions of dollars were borrowed at a high price. 'Trust me', Weekend I Maxwell lessons, Weekend IV 
 DOCUMENTS which show for the first time that both Mr Robert Maxwell and his son Kevin were intimately involved in substantial purchases of shares in Maxwell Communication Corporation, one of their own public companies, have been obtained by the Financial Times. Meanwhile, a director of a secretive Swiss trust, Mr Werner Rechsteiner, has broken his silence and has admitted that transfers of MCC shares to his trust, which are at the centre of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, were made on the instructions of Robert Maxwell. This is the first time that Mr Rechsteiner has given details of the relationship between his mysterious trust, Yakosa Finanzierungs, and the Maxwell family. The FT has also obtained a letter and has seen a corroborating fax which shows that Mr Kevin Maxwell was intimately involved in the purchase of 9m shares by Yakosa and a further 16m shares by Servex, another Swiss Trust. The MCC purchases by Yakosa and Servex are the object of an investigation by the SFO into an alleged illegal scheme to support the MCC share price. The SFO is also investigating whether Mr Robert Maxwell or Mr Kevin Maxwell breached the Companies Act by failing to disclose the purchases of the shares by the Swiss trusts. If either had a financial interest in the Swiss trusts, the purchases should have been disclosed under company law, because they were both directors of MCC. The documents demonstrate that Bishopsgate Investment Trust, a private UK company controlled by the Maxwell family, provided Pounds 55.33m on behalf of the two Swiss trusts so that they could pay for the MCC shares. Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, acted as broker to the deals. Goldman's lawyers are convinced that it acted properly. Mr Rechsteiner yesterday broke the silence he has maintained since Robert Maxwell's death in November on the subject of his relationship with the Maxwell family. He said MCC share purchases had been 'going on for some time' through Yakosa. He denied that the shares were bought for Yakosa's 'own account'. He said the shares were bought for other 'foundations' and then 'held for a certain time.' He also stressed that ownership of the MCC shares no longer rested with Robert Maxwell once they had been received by Yakosa: 'Yakosa is owned by the Maxwell Foundation,' he said. Mr Rechsteiner refused to say who controlled the Maxwell Foundation, which is based in Liechtenstein, but said it was neither Robert nor Kevin Maxwell. The FT has however obtained documents showing that Mr Kevin Maxwell was closely involved in the process of paying for 25m MCC shares on behalf of two Swiss trusts, Yakosa and Servex. On May 29 last year, Mr Kevin Maxwell sent a fax to Mr Larry Wood, an executive director of Goldman Sachs, telling him that two parcels of 12.5m MCC shares each would be bought by the Swiss trusts with Pounds 55.33m provided by BIT, a Maxwell private company. The fax, signed by Mr Maxwell, said that the funds would be remitted to Goldman Sachs 'by Bishopsgate Investment Trust PLC from its account at National Westminter Bank plc, 41 Lothbury'. Two other faxes sent by Mr Kevin Maxwell to Mr Wood on the same day show that the former was equally involved in the other end of the transaction, the sale of the 25m shares. The Swiss trusts bought the shares, using Goldman as broker, from two Maxwell pension funds, Maxwell Communication Pension Trustee (Works Scheme) and Mirror Group Newspaper Pension Trustee (Works Scheme). Each pension fund sold 12.5m shares at a price of 219.78p a share, or Pounds 27.47m in total. At 6.29pm on May 29, Mr Maxwell sent the two other faxes to Mr Wood on behalf of the two pension funds. As a director of MGPT and as a trustee of MCCPT, he told Mr Wood to pay each pension fund what it was owed to the NatWest account of BIT, which Mr Maxwell described as 'nominee' for the two pension funds. In other words, he told Mr Wood that the shares were being bought for the Swiss trusts with funds provided by BIT and that these funds should then be sent by Goldman back to BIT. In the event, on May 31, Goldman received the Pounds 55.3m by wire transfer in its account at Barclays. Goldman then levied its commission and expenses on the deal of Pounds 385,000 and wired the remainder back to BIT's NatWest account. Scots bank bows out, Page 8 Claims to Israeli shares, Page 8 
 WORKERS AT KGHM, Poland's copper producing combine went on strike yesterday as coal mining unions staged token stoppages in a third of the country's pits in a major challenge to the government's economic policies. The strike at KGHM in Lubin, western Poland, where mining unions representing some 40,0000 workers have been demanding a 30 per cent wage increase, came despite a management offer at the weekend to increase wages by 20 per cent. Further increases could only come if the government eased prohibitive wage control taxes, thus providing a powerful precedent for wage demands by other groups. Meanwhile coal mining unions are also demanding wage increases as well as a clear restructuring strategy for their industry after last week's scattered stoppages in some 15 of Poland's 71 pits wrung promises of wage rises that cash strapped managements can ill afford. In contrast to the copper industry, which continues to show a profit, coal mining is running at a loss with subsidies stopped in March as the government moved to control the budget deficit. The industry is experiencing a coal glut with pit head, power station and export stocks amounting to some 12m tonnes, the equivalent of a month's output. This has led to temporary lay-offs, which have hit miners' incomes and led to the present bout of unrest. Polish mines produced 69.7m tonnes of coal in the first half of the year or 1.5 per cent less than in the same period last year. Meanwhile KGHM produced 197,000 tonnes of refined copper in the same period or 3.9 per cent more than in the first half of 1991. 
 RUSSIA and Georgia yesterday deployed 'blue helmet' troops to stop ethnic fighting in the disputed region of South Ossetia in the first peace-keeping operation since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Reuter reports from Moscow. Reports from the remote Transcaucasian region said hundreds of heavily armed Russian troops from the 104th paratroop battalion moved into a 7km-wide security zone separating rebel South Ossetia from the rest of Georgia. Georgian national guards occupied similar positions on their side of the border and pulled out all their men from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. But Itar-Tass news agency said gunfire overnight near the city killed four civilians and injured two others, underscoring the difficulties facing the operation. The mission was the first peace-keeping attempt anywhere in the former Soviet Union, whose disintegration last year has prompted waves of bloodletting in ethnic flashpoints from the Romanian to the Afghan borders. Reports from the former Soviet republic of Moldova said several people had been killed overnight in fresh ceasefire violations between government forces and separatists. In the Transcaucasian republic of Armenia, Radio Russia said five civilians had died overnight in Azerbaijani shelling, the latest victims of a four-year undeclared war which has killed 2,000 people. Russia and Georgia were cautiously optimistic that Ossetia could be the first region of the former Soviet Union where armed conflict could be resolved with the help of 'political measures and actions'. South Ossetia is part of Georgia but wants to unite with neighbouring North Ossetia, which was assigned to Russia by Stalin. Hundreds have been killed since 1990 in fighting between Georgians and Ossetians. The peace-keepers have been issued with UN-style light-blue helmet bands and matching chevrons on their sleeves. They will be joined later by a multi-ethnic force - Russians, Ukrainians, Ossetians and other mountain peoples - under the nominal command of North Ossetian leaders. The peace-keepers' mission is to form a physical barrier between the two sides, opening the way to future talks. The greatest threat is expected to come from hundreds of armed fighters on both sides, operating independently in a dozen or so bands outside the control of either Russian or Georgian authorities. Interfax news agency said Russia's Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi, at present on a visit to Moldova, proposed a similar peace-keeping operation there. 
 THE annual Booker ballyhoo got going again yesterday when the judges for this year's Pounds 20,000 prize for British (and Commonwealth) fiction announced the shortlist. The Prize (courtesy of Booker plc, the food and agri-business group) is no longer the richest literary award but it guarantees great prestige, and sales, for the winner, and, say its admirers, helpfully brings The Novel to public attention. Its critics say that the autumn brouhaha distorts the annual fiction industry and the intense media hype of the shortlisted authors does a disservice to the hordes of other gifted but unlisted writers. This year's shortlist contains no surprises. London's litterati have for weeks been betting on Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient - those of them who have seen a proof copy because it is not officially published until next week. Last night the bookmakers William Hill made it the 5-2 favourite. The shortlist is: Serenity House by Christopher Hope (MacMillan Pounds 14.99). Black comedy by a master South Africa-born specialist in the trade. Set in a Highgate 'eventide refuge' where euthanasia is an unspoken word and its senior citizen, Max Montfalcon, turns out to be a geriatric Nazi scientist. The FT review next Saturday will describe it as 'surreal farce .. scabrously enjoyable ..' The Butcher's Boy by Patrick McCabe (Picador Pounds 14.99). An Irish murderer, a soft-in-the-head orphan jailed for life, recalls his life in grisly detail. The FT reviewer said that 'the misery and deprivation of working class life have never been so brutally evoked ..' Black Dogs by Ian McEwan (Secker &amp; Warburg Pounds 14.99). McEwan's fiction is uniquely disturbing - some would say deliberately offensive. He is the novelist of misanthropy. This is the tale of a failed marriage, episodically told, and the black dogs of evil are both metaphorical and literal. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Bloomsbury Pounds 14.99). The Sri Lankan poet and novelist Ondaatje, who lives in Canada, has followed 'in the skin of a lion' with an extraordinary book about four characters in a Tuscan villa in the closing months of the last war. The central metaphor is bombs - disposal of, and then Hiroshima. The 'English patient' is a central mystery around which the others' stories orbit: he fell out of the sky in flames; who is he? The FT review on Saturday will hail it as a masterpiece. Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts (Virago Pounds 14.99). The surprise contender because it is not yet published. Roberts comes from an Anglo-French Catholic background and this informs her new novel with a strong rural-Normandy atmosphere. Two cousins, one pious, one worldly. Shades of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Lots of action in the kitchen; something is hidden in the cellar. Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (Hamish Hamilton Pounds 15.99). Unsworth's massive novel about the 1750s slave trade came out early this year to widespread critical praise. The shipboard detail - the horrors of the trade -are brilliantly done. The judges will have to rule on the characterisation of the European protagonists who go off to found a Utopia in Florida. The judges this year, who will include Independent journalist Mark Lawson and John Coldstream, literary editor of The Daily Telegraph, will be chaired by the biographer Victoria Glendinning. The winner will be named at a Guildhall dinner on Tuesday October 13. Last year the prize was won by Ben Okri, for his book The Famished Road. 
 MADE IN AMERICA: MY STORY By Sam Walton Doubleday, Dollars 22.50. 269 pages Being an American folk hero is a tricky assignment, as Ross Perot found out. The problem is that the great American public likes its boot-strap entrepreneurs to be very rich and very upright. In a country where business practices are not overly genteel, this is a tough combination to achieve. A vast media circus, meanwhile, is quick to expose any flaws. Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart chain of discount supermarkets who died of cancer in April, negotiated these pitfalls much better than most. When, in 1985, Forbes magazine declared him America's richest entrepreneur, the paparazzi descended on the obscure corner of Arkansas, mainly occupied by chicken farmers, where Walton made his home. What they found was a happily married, much-liked billionaire who enjoyed quail hunting, breakfasted at the local Holiday Inn, and drove a battered pick-up truck, minus two hub-caps. Folksy was an understatement. Since then, some aspects of Wal-Mart's business - its anti-union policies, the impact of its Dollars 40bn annual sales on hundreds of Mom-and-Pop shops -have been subject to critical scrutiny. So, to an extent, have the less wholesome adventures of the four Walton children. But no one has ever been able to make Sam himself look bad. The worst that has been said is that he was rather dull. Walton is not about to dash anyone's illusions. Readers will either find his autobiography lashed with 'good ol" common-sense and a lot of harmless, if charming, anecdotes. Or they will find it dreary and downbeat. Walton makes no excuses: 'I realise this may sound boring to most you,' he writes at one stage, 'but one of my best items ever was a mattress pad called a Bedmate . . . .' A few snippets are more revealing about the character. There cannot be many billionaires who admit that they 'never learned handwriting too well' - and have the guts to include a photograph which demonstrates the point. Meanwhile, the competitive energy which Sam Walton applied to his business is inescapable. In one of many contributions from friends and family, Don Soderquist, Wal-Mart's chief operating officer, tells of finding Sam one Saturday morning on his hand and knees at the local Kmart store, analysing his rival's stock. And his wife, in a casual aside, notes that when the couple was on holiday in Italy their luggage vanished while her husband was off on a similar scouting mission. But it is David Glass, Wal-Mart's current chief executive, who perhaps captures the entrepreneurial Walton spirit best. Explaining the annual contest in which Wal-Mart executives choose one 'volume producing item' to promote, he recalls the time Sam (who usually won) selected minnow buckets for carrying bait. Glass was more happily teamed with apple juice. 'So I would go down to the stores, and get them to take that minnow bucket . . . put ice in it, ice down the juice and give away samples out of his minnow bucket. I particularly did it in stores I knew (Sam) was going to visit. It drove him crazy, and he got off that minnow bucket pretty quick . . . .' But the reader can't help feeling that the cosy yarns tell only half the truth. Sam Walton was a salesman to the core, and seems to have packaged himself with all the skill that he once applied to selling a gooey southern sweet called Moon Pies. For the most part, this makes for an engaging, if one-dimensional, portrait. Occasionally, it just grates. 'I had bought a bank in Bentonville, for about about Dollars 300,000,' Walton remarks, for example, 'just a little old bank with only about Dollars 3.5m in deposits. But it helped me learn a lot about financing things.' Oh, come on Sam, is that the whole story? The real truth, one suspects, comes right at the end of the book - when Walton admits that 'if I hadn't gotten sick, I doubt I would have written this book'. Given the pleadings of publishers - Doubleday paid about Dollars 4m for the manuscript - and a rather natural desire to have a final say, he can hardly be blamed for agreeing to write it. But these are unlikely to be circumstances which make for the most critical self-analysis. At the end of the day, Sam Walton's heritage is in the shopping malls, not the bookstores. 
 WHILE Hurricane Andrew was wreaking havoc across large parts of southern Florida and Louisiana this week, a grade two dollar crisis (on a one-to-four scale, four being most severe) was blowing itself out at the end of a tumultuous few days for US and world financial markets. On Wall Street, most of the damage from the currency storm was inflicted a week ago Friday and on the following Monday, when bond yields jumped sharply and the Dow Jones industrial average plunged by more than 75 points. The flimsy walls erected hastily by the Federal Reserve and other big central banks to protect the vulnerable dollar from a tidal wave of selling on foreign exchange markets failed to hold; and as the sellers poured through the breached barricades, the currency dropped to DM1.40. This was its lowest-ever point against the D-mark. The conditions necessary for a dollar crisis had been building up in currency markets for some time. Interest rate differentials between US and Germany widened over the summer as the Fed eased, and the Bundesbank tightened, their respective monetary policies. The failure of the US economy to climb out of recession with any vigour was also making overseas investors increasingly unhappy about holding the dollar. So, too, was the political hole President Bush had dug for himself in a re-election battle that only a year ago was supposed to be a shoo-in for the incumbent. Moreover, the fact that almost every central bank worth its salt was in the markets trying to prop up the dollar served only to convince foreign exchange dealers that the currency was heading in one direction - down. While there were plenty of reasons for the dealers to sell the dollar, the logic for such a strongly negative reaction from bond and stock markets was less obviously compelling. There are two standard explanations why a weak dollar prompts bond prices to fall. The first is that it raises import prices and, as a result, adds to inflationary pressures. The second is that it makes it hard for the Fed to engineer another cut in interest rates to stimulate the flagging recovery, and raises the possibility that rates may actually have to go up to protect the currency. The first explanation is not particularly convincing - imports account for not much more than 10 per cent of US gross domestic product, so higher import prices do not greatly effect the overall price level, which is now around 3 per cent and heading lower. The second explanation carries more weight. Although there is not much chance, given the present economic and political climate, that the Fed will raise rates to help the dollar, there is little doubt that the currency's weakness makes it extremely difficult for the Fed to ease monetary policy again. The fear that the Fed may be done with interest rate cuts for the present economic cycle was also behind the selling in equity markets. But investors in stocks were equally, if not more, troubled by the rise in bond yields. Just over a week ago, the yield on the benchmark 30-year bond, which has remained stubbornly high all year despite the poor state of the economy, looked as if it might drop below 7.3 per cent. The dollar put paid to those hopes and, by the middle of this week, it was approaching 7.45 per cent, putting an upward pressure on the all-important mortgage rate for home-buyers. The dollar was not the only story in financial markets this week, and the devastating effect of Hurricane Andrew produced a typically hard-eyed, although nonetheless logical, reaction from Wall Street. The stocks of those insurance companies with the greatest exposure in southern Florida, the area hit worst by the hurricane, all took a tumble. But the relatively modest losses in Geico, Travelers and Progressive suggested that the market believed the insurers were reserved or reinsured adequately enough to cover hurricane-related claims. The flip side of the hurricane's coin was a strong showing from the stocks of home construction companies expected to benefit from demand for rebuilding damaged or destroyed homes. Since there are an estimated 250,000 people left homeless by the storm, there is a lot of work to be done. The biggest gains among construction stocks this week were posted by Lennar, Oakwood Homes, Engle Homes and Fleetwood, the largest maker of pre-manufactured homes in the US. 
 SQUADS of workers fanned out across storm-battered Louisiana yesterday to begin a massive rebuilding effort after Hurricane Andrew had flattened whole districts, killing two people and injuring dozens more, agencies report from Florida and New Orleans. However, local officials in Florida, hit earlier in the week by the hurricane, were critical of what they called a delay in supplying food, drinking water and other supplies for thousands of people in need. Federal emergency officials acknowledged distribution problems, Transportation Secretary Andrew Card yesterday promised 'dramatic' improvements within 24 hours and President George Bush last night ordered troops to Florida, without specifying a number. The government estimated it would cost Dollars 20bn-Dollars 30bn to tidy and rebuild in Florida, and to care for residents displaced by the storm. Louisiana state officials said they had no overall count of storm-related injuries but initial estimates reckoned fewer than 100. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was setting aside Dollars 77m to help Louisiana recover. Most of the storm's fury was spent against sparsely populated farming communities and swampland in the state, sparing it the widespread destruction caused in Florida, where 15 people died. Official estimates in Miami reported that the hurricane had wiped out the homes of one Dade County resident in eight - a quarter of a million people. Andrew had become little more than a strong rainstorm early yesterday, moving across Mississippi state and heading for the north-eastern US. Several of Louisiana's main industries were affected, including those of oysters and alligators. Wildlife and fisheries secretary Joe Herring estimated a 50 per cent decline in the alligator industry. The cotton and sugar-cane crops were threatened, the state agriculture department said. Most Louisiana oil refineries, however, were barely affected and deliveries of crude oil were expected to resume yesterday. 
 GENERAL ACCIDENT, the leading British insurer, said yesterday that insurance claims arising from Hurricane Andrew could 'cost it as much as Dollars 40m.' Lord Airlie, the chairman who was addressing an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, said: 'On the basis of emerging information, General Accident advise that the losses to their US operations arising from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Florida and Louisiana, might in total reach the level at which external catastrophe reinsurance covers would become exposed'. What this means is that GA is able to pass on its losses to external reinsurers once a certain claims threshold has been breached. It believes this threshold may be breached in respect of Hurricane Andrew claims. However, if this happens, it would suffer a post-tax loss of Dollars 40m (Pounds 20m). Mr Nelson Robertson, GA's chief general manager, explained later that the company has a 1/2 per cent share of the Florida market. It has a branch in Orlando. The company's loss adjusters are in the area trying to estimate the losses. Their guess is that losses to be faced by all insurers may total more than Dollars 8bn. Not all damaged property in the area is insured and there have been estimates that the storm caused more than Dollars 20bn of damage. However, other insurers have estimated that losses could be as low as Dollars 1bn in total. Mr Robertson said: 'No one knows at this time what the exact loss is'. 
 HURRICANE Andrew, claimed to be the costliest natural disaster in US history, yesterday smashed its way through the state of Louisiana, inflicting severe damage on rural communities but narrowly missing the low-lying city of New Orleans. The storm, which brought havoc to southern Florida on Monday and then headed north-west across the Gulf of Mexico, had made landfall late on Tuesday night some 60 miles south-west of the city in the agricultural Cajun country. Although the damage from the hurricane's landfall in Florida on Monday was much greater than initially esti mated, insurers' losses there are likely to total less than Dollars 1bn, well below earlier expectations, a senior member of Lloyd's insurance market said yesterday. In Louisiana, the hurricane landed with wind speeds of about 120 miles per hour and caused severe damage in small coastal centres such as Morgan City, Franklin and New Iberia. Associated tornadoes devastated Laplace, 20 miles west of New Orleans. Then, however, Andrew lost force as it moved north over land. By yesterday afternoon, it had been down-graded to tropical storm, in that its sustained windspeeds were below 75 mph. Initial reports said at least one person had died, 75 been injured and thousands made homeless along the Louisiana coast, after 14 confirmed deaths in Florida and three in the Bahamas. The storm caused little damage to Louisiana's important oil-refining industry, although some plants had to halt production when electricity was cut. The Lloyd's member, in close contact with leading insurers in Florida, said that damage to insured property was remarkably small. More than Dollars 15bn of damage may have been caused in all, but was mostly to uninsured property, he said. In north Miami, damage is minimal. Worst affected is one hotel, whose basement was flooded. Most of the destruction occurred in a 10-mile band across Homestead, 25 miles to the south of Miami, where a typical house sells for Dollars 100,000 to Dollars 150,000. US insurers will face a bill in respect of such properties, but Lloyd's exposure there is minimal. Many destroyed power lines are thought to be uninsured, as are trees and shrubs uprooted across a wide area. Only one big hotel in that area has been badly damaged, a Holiday Inn. Across Florida, some 2m people remained without electric ity yesterday and health officials were warning the public to boil or chemically treat all water. Hurricane Hugo, which devastated much of South Carolina in 1989, cost the insurance industry some Dollars 4.2bn. Further uninsured losses may have raised the total to Dollars 6bn-Dollars 10bn. 
 DAMAGE CAUSED by Hurricane Andrew could rise to Dollars 20bn, it was estimated yesterday, as one of the costliest US storms this century threatened a further devastating landfall near the city of New Orleans. Government officials in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas yesterday advised or ordered more than 2m people to evacuate coastal areas. The hurricane tore through southern Florida early on Monday morning, causing billions of dollars of property damage and at least 12 deaths, and yesterday was moving north-west across the Gulf of Mexico with winds of about 140 miles an hour. At least three people died on Sunday when Hurricane Andrew crossed the Bahamas. Ms Kate Hale, director of emergency services in Florida's Dade County, which bore the brunt of the storm, estimated that Andrew had already caused Dollars 15bn to Dollars 20bn (Pounds 7.5bn-Pounds 10bn) of damage. However, insurance industry analysts cautioned that it was too early to assess the costs accurately. The US industry's Property Claims Service, the official compiler of disaster losses, had yet to compile a preliminary tally of the Florida bill. A hurricane warning was in effect yesterday along 470 miles of Gulf coast from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Galvestone, Texas. Several forecasting agencies suggested the likeliest landfall was in central Louisiana, to the west of New Orleans, possibly late last night or this morning. New Orleans, with a population of 1.6m, is particularly vulnerable because the city lies below sea level, has the Mississippi River running through its centre and a large lake immediately to the north. Much of America's oil refining industry is concentrated along coastal Texas and Louisiana and several refineries were yesterday partially shut down. These included British Petroleum's Belle Chasse plant in Louisiana. In Florida, Andrew caused greatest havoc in a largely suburban swathe some 10-15 miles south of Miami. The town of Homestead, near the centre of the storm, was largely flattened, including a local air force base. Miami's city centre escaped with relatively light damage. More than 24 hours after the hurricane, some 825,000 households and businesses were still without power. The brunt of insurance claims from the Florida storm will fall on the US industry, and companies with a heavy local exposure include the State Farm Group and the Allstate Insurance unit of Sears Roebuck. These are also the leading property/casualty and home insurance groups in Louisiana, together with American International Group. A spokesman for State Farm Insurance said he believed the company had roughly 20 per cent of the Florida market. The mutually-owned company has no reinsurance. Its size has made obtaining reinsurance cover difficult and its reserves, at about Dollars 24bn, have made it unnecessary. According to Balcombe Group, a UK-based claims adjustment firm, other insurers with large exposure in the hurricane-hit area are Hartford Insurance, Aetna and Travellers. Travellers said it had flown 50 claims adjusters in to Florida late on Monday and was assessing losses. About 12 per cent of Travellers' home insurance premium income came from Florida last year, and 4.6 per cent of its commercial insurance premiums. The last serious US hurricane, Hugo, which struck South Carolina in 1989, cost the industry Dollars 4.2bn from insured losses, though estimates of the total damage caused ranged between Dollars 6bn and Dollars 10bn. 
 US CITIES along the Gulf of Mexico from Alabama to eastern Texas were on storm watch last night as Hurricane Andrew headed west after sweeping across southern Florida, causing at least eight deaths and severe property damage. The hurricane was one of the fiercest in the US in decades and the first to hit Miami directly in a quarter of a century. In the Bahamas, government spokesman Mr Jimmy Curry said four deaths had been reported on outlying eastern islands. Mr Justin Balcombe, of UK-based insurance adjuster Balcombe Group, said total losses could exceed Dollars 15bn if business interruption claims were taken into account. That compares with the Dollars 4bn-Dollars 6n (Pounds 2.1bn-Pounds 3.1bn) of insurance industry losses caused by the last big US hurricane, Hugo, which hit South Carolina in 1989. The brunt of the losses are likely to be concentrated among US insurers, industry analysts said yesterday. Mr George Lloyd-Roberts, chairman of Lloyd's Underwriters' Non-Marine Association, said that, unless damage claims exceeded Pounds 3bn, the Lloyd's insurance market would feel little impact. Because the reinsurance of reinsurance risk - known as the retrocession market - has shrunk considerably in recent years, US insurers have placed far fewer of their risks through Lloyd's. Mr Roger Hill, insurance analyst at Warburg Securities, said he estimated that mainline UK insurers faced no more than Pounds 75m in damage claims so far. 'At the moment we are relaxed about it,' he said. The real question, he added, is the level of reinsurance available to the UK underwriters. Royal Insurance estimated the company's losses at no more than Pounds 20m. Among other UK insurers, Mr Hill estimated that General Accident may face losses of up to Pounds 30m, while Guardian Royal Exchange faced Pounds 5m and Sun Alliance and Commercial Union Pounds 10m each. However, Hurricane Andrew gathered fresh strength as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico and there was concern last night that it might head towards New Orleans, which is especially low lying and could suffer severe flood damage. Scientists said the storm could make landfall anywhere between the Alabama port of Mobile and the Louisiana-Texas border, probably tomorrow night or early Thursday. It could threaten the large concentration of offshore oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell Oil was evacuating most of the 900 workers on its offshore platforms as a precaution. A substantial part of America's oil refining industry is concentrated on the Gulf coast, in Louisiana and Texas, and officials there were reviewing emergency plans to curtail or shut down plant operations. Andrew, the first Caribbean hurricane of the season, hit the eastern coast of Florida early yesterday, gusting up to 165mph. It ripped roofs off houses, smashed cars and trucks, snapped power lines and uprooted trees before heading out over the Gulf. A million people had been ordered to flee their homes in southern Florida as the hurricane moved in from the Bahamas on Sunday. The Florida Power and Light company said that about 1.2m of its customers, or 32 per cent, were without power. Some of the strongest winds were in the affluent suburb of Coral Gables, just south of Miami, where the National Hurricane Center is located. Its radar and satellite antennae were blown away. President Bush authorised federal disaster assistance for the affected areas and made plans for an inspection tour of the state. Picture, Page 14 
 Sir, The argument for an independent central bank is that it should be free of party political interference, not that it should conduct monetary policy without regard to national, regional or global interests. Whatever policy the Kohl government followed over reunification, it was bound to unleash a large federal deficit and inflationary pressures in Germany. As the western German population is now aware, German reunification needs a strong, growing west German economy to finance the subsidisation of eastern Germans' living standards until there is a sustained upswing in the east - even if at the cost of higher German inflation than the Bundesbank would wish. In Europe as a whole, very high real interest rates threaten to turn recession into depression. The governments of Europe have been remarkably patient with the Bundesbank, although it is threatening nearly 10 years of European effort for greater economic and political integration. Surely there must be compromise of some economic habits to achieve the latter? It is ironic that, just when German reunification presented a short-term reason for Germany to shift its anti-inflationary economic and monetary priorities, accommodating European convergence, Bundesbank intransigence is threatening the EMU commitment. Beyond Europe, the dominant economic forces are strongly disinflationary. But Germany is the one economy which, for reasons of reunification, could afford a more relaxed stand on the inflationary front. Yet Mr Otmar Issing, the Bundesbank's chief economist, advises there are no grounds for a cut in Germany's interest rates. This, despite the unreliability of German money supply data. The German government might point out to the Bundesbank that monetary targets might be achievable only at the cost of many more than 3m unemployed in Germany, of the destruction of the EMU programme and global depression. A DM exchange rate adjustment within the ERM is not the answer to the problems. We need a prolonged low-interest-rate German reunification boom. The European currency bloc is overvalued against the dollar and yen as a result of Bundesbank interest rate policies. And this is aggravating recession. A future European-wide central bank must clearly - like the US Federal Reserve - be more accountable in the broader European political and economic interest. The governments and central banks of Europe and the G7 block - including the Kohl administration - should pressurise the Bundesbank, and be prepared to consider constitutional changes if necessary, to halt this idiocy. Howard Flight, managing director, Guinness Flight Global Asset Management, Lighterman's Court, 5 Gainsford Street, Tower Bridge, London SE1 2NE 
 TONIGHT in the big stadium in Barcelona the athletics is dominated by the four relay finals. Tonight it is nation versus nation. What the relays demonstrate more clearly than any other athletics event is that at the Olympics the race has traditionally gone to affluent countries - or to those, rather, that choose to lavish resources on athletes. The US has comfortably won the most relay medals, followed by Britain, the former Soviet Union, the former West Germany (not even counting the six won before 1939), the former East Germany, France and Canada. Britain alone have won more relay medals (23) than all the Caribbean islands (nine) and Africa (four, including one for South Africa). The Dutch, with one, have more relay medals than all the nations of Asia (nil) and South America (nil) combined. The Cuban women's 100 metres relay teams of 1968 and 1972 are the only women from outside the developed world to have won relay medals. With a little luck - with their nerve-stretching hand-overs the relays always require a little luck - the developing countries will continue the gentle redistribution of medals. But although they have talent, few can match the strength in depth of the traditional relay powers. The US 4x400m squad has been weakened by the injury to Danny Everett. Even so they rested Steve Lewis, the 400m silver medallist, in last night's semi-finals. In the 4x100m heats James Jett replaced Carl Lewis but Lewis ran impressively in last night's semi-final and tonight will pursue his eighth Olympic gold. One thing that became clear on Thursday, when Lewis won his seventh gold with victory in the long jump, was that while winning at the Olympics may bring other athletes excitement or relief, Lewis simply adores the experience. When Voula Patoulidou, looking up at the giant video screen after the women's 100m hurdle final, suddenly realised, to her astonishment, that she had won a gold medal, she went delightfully and utterly potty, as did the other 25 Greeks in the stadium, including Queen Sofia of Spain. Lewis, on the other hand, seemed unsurprised when Mike Powell was unable to overhaul him in the long jump. Even though the long jump had not finished and even though 5,000m runners were trudging through a semi-final, Lewis began at once an extremely hammy lap-and-a-half of honour. He tried to orchestrate a Mexican wave. This is a man who derives immense pleasure from winning in front of a packed house. Lewis will be difficult to suppress tonight. Noureddine Morcelli of Algeria will be hard to beat in the men's 1,500m. Morcelli is one of five Africans in the final striving to increase their continent's tally of just three Olympic medals (all Kenyan) in this event. Even here there is a US connection: Morcelli attended Riverside Community College in California, to hone his running on good tracks. On Thursday night, Morcelli cruised through his heat in first place after the gentlest push on the accelerator. The Moroccan Rachid Al-Basir followed him down the straight, a respectful step behind, looming over his fellow Arab and glancing anxiously round like a bodyguard. Morcelli has not been beaten in the 1,500m since 1990. 
 TOMORROW evening, just before the Olympic closing ceremony, the last and one of the most prestigious events of the Games will be held. It is also without doubt the most gruelling. Run in high heat, high humidity, high pollution levels and over an extraordinary course, the Barcelona Olympic men's marathon will prove one of the most physically demanding ever run. There are lots of figures to show why. It is estimated that when the race begins in Mataro, a seaside town north of Barcelona, the temperature will be an already-uncomfortable 25`C. Towards the marathon's end, however, radiant heat thrown off by buildings could be subjecting the runners to a temperature of up to 30`C. More debilitating still, relative humidity in Barcelona in August rises as high as 80 per cent. With more than 10 kilometres still to go, most of the course is an upward run. The last 4.6km, which take the runners 60m higher still to the Olympic stadium at the top of the hill of Montjuic, has an average gradient of more than 4.5 per cent, and includes some sections of 7 per cent, equivalent in skiing terms to a steep 'red' run. But we do not need figures to convince us of the extraordinary difficulty of tomorrow's race. Last Saturday, in the Olympic stadium, I watched the final moments and aftermath of the women's marathon, begun at the same time of day and run in similar conditions. Never in any event voluntarily entered into, sporting or otherwise, have I seen such signs of physical and mental distress. The race was won by the Unified Team's Valentina Yegorova in 2 hours 32 minutes, a time considerably slower than that achieved by women on less demanding Olympic marathon courses in Los Angeles and Seoul. After her nearest competitor, Japan's Yuko Arimori, came in eight seconds later, they had the energy - between bouts of grimacing and lowering their heads to their knees - to embrace each other and smile for the cameras. It was a different story in the 'mixed zone,' the area under the stadium where athletes recover after their events. As runner after runner stumbled and limped into the room - several were brought in senseless on stretchers - the scene seemed to be populated by exhausted boat people rescued after weeks of exposure and deprivation at sea. As a photographer calmly shot off a roll of film a foot from her face, Manuela Machado of Mexico and another runner stood vomiting violently into a potted palm. Several competitors lay prone and gasping on the ground as water was poured over them; others stood hunched over, grasping their abdomens. If anyone moved at all, it was with agonised faces and the slowest of hobbles. These are not the sort of scenes likely to promote enthusiasm for marathon running or for the ideals of Olympic competition. Chris Brasher, organiser of the London marathon, was on hand to witness the suffering, and was incensed. Male marathon runners will face the same kind of problems with heat, humidity, and an over-demanding terrain, he said. In his opinion, gearing the marathon to prime-time TV viewing and having the event end at the top of a hill for the sake of stadium spectators was unjustified and a 'sell-out to commercialism. 'To put on the marathon in the late afternoon, rather than first thing in the morning (the normal practice), and then to make them run 4km up a hill is just criminal in my opinion,' said Brasher, a former Olympic gold medal athlete and noted sportswriter. I spoke to Britain's Steve Brace, winner of the Paris marathon in 1989 and 1990, the Berlin marathon last year and a competitor in the Barcelona event. He agrees that the run will be highly demanding, and while he regards Olympic marathon running as a pinnacle of his career, he is cautious about tomorrow's slog. Like almost all the athletes running tomorrow, Brace is a professional runner who specialises in marathons. He takes an objective, long-term view of his profession. As an income-earner, marathon running is an activity with liabilities and limitations, and requires business management as well as physical ability. The winner of the London marathon earns a tidy Dollars 50,000 and the New York, Boston and Japanese runs are all in the same prize-winning category. But these and less financially-rewarding events are physically debilitating, and can only be won if a competitor is in top physical shape. With their careers and financial prospects in mind, top-level runners normally only run two marathons a year. As Brace says, when you have only two pay-days out of 365, you choose, plan and train for them with great care. Brace trains extremely carefully indeed. 'Running a marathon is the easy part,' he says. 'The hard part is the lead-up to achieving the performance level required.' He starts training three months before an event by running 80 miles a week and then building progressively. For the last six weeks he runs 120 miles a week. Normally he would hope that such a routine brings a pay-off. But the Olympic marathon is an exception: the only top-level marathon that carries no prize money. Brace says that in spite of the prestige and possible financial spin-offs involved, 'it does not necessarily make sense to run to win.' Given the highly demanding nature of the course and their desire to preserve physical condition for races that do bring in money, he says, many runners will give less than their best effort. Nonetheless, there are plenty whose considerations stretch beyond the purely financial. Italian Gelindo Bordin, who came first in the 1988 Seoul Olympic marathon, is a strong contender. So is Djibouti's Ahmed Salah, who came third in Seoul. Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya and Hiromi Taniguchi of Japan are also possible winners. None of them, though, will make a molehill out of the steep and formidable ascent of Montjuic. 
 RUSSIA flew 3,000 special forces to halt ethnic fighting in the troubled Caucasus mountains at the weekend, its second troop deployment in a week to support a beleaguered government in its former empire. Russian President Boris Yeltsin sent Spetsnaz commandos and elite police to Vladikavkaz, capital of the Russian autonomous republic of North Ossetia, 1,100 miles south of Moscow. The troops were sent to halt fighting between Ossetians and a regional ethnic group, the Ingush, who officials claimed were setting fire to Ossetian-owned homes. Scores were reported killed and injured in street fighting between Ossetians and Ingush in the past several days. Ingush rebels were reported yesterday to have taken hostage 80 Russian interior ministry soldiers based in the region. A local official said the soldiers were seized on Friday in the Dzhermen settlement, located near the regional capital, Vladikavkaz, and populated mostly by Ingushis, Mr Felix Gutnov, spokesman for the North Ossetian interior ministry, said. The Ingush, who declared an independent state in June, are demanding the return of lands that Russian leader Josef Stalin expropriated in 1944 and declared part of North Ossetia. Mr Yeltsin and Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar held emergency meetings on the crisis on Saturday and yesterday. At the same time, the North Ossetian government said it would distribute Russian army-supplied automatic weapons to civilian volunteers. 'The Russian authorities are strong enough to make all those violating the law respect it,' Russian Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Khizha, Mr Yeltsin's specialist on the Caucasus, told Russian television. The Russian action mirrored recent developments in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, where Russian troops have also been deployed. The Central Asian nation, which has yet to form its own army since the Soviet Union collapsed last December, has also distributed weapons to civilians. On October 26-27 Russian soldiers played a crucial role in crushing a coup attempt in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. The Caucasus mountains, which stretch from southern Russia to the borders of Turkey and Iran, are engulfed by several conflicts. Among them are Georgia's war with Abkhazian separatists, and Azerbaijan's conflict with ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. 
 THE LATE Mr Robert Maxwell liked to think of himself as a 'strong ' chess player and there was always a chess set in his suite in his London headquarters. 'There is no evidence to suggest that Maxwell actually was a strong player or that he played in any tournaments,' said Mr Malcolm Pein, international chess master and director of Chess and Bridge, which yesterday took over the business and assets of Maxwell Macmillan Chess and Bridge. There may be doubts about Robert Maxwell's strength as a player but less about his enthusiasm for the game. In 1990, through The European newspaper, he sponsored a section of the World Chess championships in New York. And when Pergamon was sold to Elsevier last year Maxwell kept the chess and bridge publishing businesses. Mr Pein said it had taken most of the year since Mr Maxwell's death to prise the businesses, which include Chess Monthly and Bridge Monthly from the administrators to the Maxwell empire. 'Price Waterhouse took months and months to come up with any information about the company,' said Mr Pein. Even when the new company had reached agreement to buy the business from Price Waterhouse, administrator to the public Maxwell companies they then ran into trouble with Arthur Andersen, administrator to the private Maxwell businesses. Mr Pein said the new company wanted to use and pay for the premises of Maxwell Macmillan Chess and Bridge - prefabricated buildings in the village of Wheatley, Oxfordshire - until they found permanent premises. However, he said that Arthur Andersen wanted two years back rent. Despite the year of difficulties, Chess and Bridge is now set up in new premises in Euston Road, London. The company said it had the largest collection of chess and bridge books and products in the UK. 
 The 29-storey Jijobhoy Towers, home of the Bombay Stock Exchange, was rocked by two powerful bombs last Friday, leaving 60 dead and 200 injured. The market reopened on Monday in an attempt to return to normal. It has had to compromise - trading has been restricted to an hour a day, and dealing has moved back to the traditional ring, where it stopped a year ago. Dealers seemed to like this, the BSE index rising by 5.6 per cent on Monday and Tuesday. But another bomb blast in Calcutta triggered nervous selling yesterday, and the index came back by 50.62, or 2.1 per cent, to 2,409.23. All this has taken place against a volatile background: the Bombay equity market, over the past six weeks or so, has had to contend first with unusually bullish speculation, before the national budget on February 27, and subsequently with some savage expressions of disappointment. Dr Manmohan Singh, the Indian finance minister, disappointed traders in the budget at the end of last month. He postponed corporate tax reforms by a year, denying hopes of a tax cut recommended by an expert group. He did reduce excise and import duties on a broad front, but left out the cement and steel sectors, where share prices had been boosted by pre-budget speculation. To top it all, Dr Singh refused to equate domestic investors with their overseas counterparts in taxing short-term capital gains. He lowered the tax to 30 per cent from 65 per cent for expatriate Indians and foreign investors but for local investors it remained at 44.5 per cent. Taking the tax concessions for granted, traders had driven up share prices in February to make a kill later. Instead, the budget turned out to be a nightmare. While industry and business welcomed the statement which, for once, did not propose any new tax, Professor Rusi Taraporewala, the stock market theorist and academic, said a reduction in import duties would leave corporate profits ex-growth this year. The relative lack of financial concessions meant that disappointed traders sold with a vengeance and, until the weekend, the market seemed bottomless as equity prices plummeted to a 13-month low. Overseas investors fuelled the downtrend as they sold some half a million shares of Reliance Industries, arbitraging between the share price on the Bombay stock exchange and the market price of its Euro-issue of global depository receipts (GDRs). The opportunity arose after a change in Indian regulations which allows international investors to convert GDRs into the underlying stock. At the current conversion rate of Rs31 per US dollar, the Reliance GDR fetched Rs170 per share against the BSE quotation of Rs210. The BSE 30-share index plunged by more than one-fifth to 2,287 on March 10, from 2,893 at the post-budget trading session on February 27. Share prices rebounded last week, taking the index to 2,361 and the uptrend, on balance, has continued this week in spite of the bomb blast on Friday. Whether or not the surge will turn into a strong rally will depend on the ability of bulls to maintain their momentum. They are hoping that foreign portfolio investment will pick up with the restoration of trading after 'Black Friday', and the successful sale of Reliance stock on the BSE by international investors. The Indian stock markets have been passing through a series of crises since December, when activists of the Bhartiya Janta party pulled down the Babri mosque at Ayodhya, sparking off communal riots. Mr Mark Bulloch of Jardine Fleming takes the domestic political situation in his stride. 'Nothing dramatic has happened as far as foreign investors are concerned,' he says. 'They are appraising the political situation.' In the meantime, there is no compulsion for local investors to sell. In this, they are more fortunate than they were in previous years, when they were under pressure to take advantage of a long-term capital gains tax exemption before the financial year ended in March. The exemption has been replaced by a flat 20 per cent tax this year which, according to dealers, puts bulls and bears on an even footing. 
 INDIA suffered a fresh wave of terror last night when an explosion destroyed two blocks of flats in the centre of the city of Calcutta, killing at least 45 people and injuring scores of others. Police said a bomb exploded in the crowded trade and residential district of Bowbazaar shortly after midnight, causing two blocks of flats to collapse and trapping up to 70 people in the rubble. The identity of the bombers was unknown but the explosion comes just five days after over 250 people were killed and at least 1,200 injured in a series of bomb attacks aimed at the heart of the Indian business capital of Bombay. A militant Sikh group fighting for independence for the Indian state of Punjab has claimed responsibility for the Bombay blasts, but police are unconvinced, saying they were carried out by a foreign group in connivance with 'local criminals'. In what many interpreted as a reference to Pakistan, with whom India has fought three wars, last week Mr Shankarrao Chavan, the federal home (interior) minister, told parliament in New Delhi that he suspected 'an international conspiracy.' Most of the estimated 125 people living in the Calcutta flats were in their beds when the blast occurred, setting fire to both buildings, according to officials in the city's central control room. At least 45 people were dead on arrival at hospital, they said. Last Friday a series of car bombs exploded in Bombay in what the government described as a systematic attack on India's commercial heart. Among the targets were the Bombay Stock Exchange, the landmark Air India building, a shopping complex, and two hotels near the airport. The attacks in Calcutta and Bombay are a severe setback to attempts to heal the wounds created by recent intercommunal violence, which has caused deep shock throughout India. More than 2,000 people died in riots, including over 700 in Bombay, after the razing of a mosque at Ayodhya in northern India by Hindu zealots on December 6. Some fear the wave of bomb attacks is designed to stir a renewal of communal strife and undermine efforts by the government of Mr P V Narasimha Rao to open up the economy and attract foreign investment and tourism. Last night national and local state leaders appealed for calm in an attempt to prevent a renewed outbreak of violence. Mr Rao urged the nation to ignore rumours after the 'inhuman and criminal blast'. 
 MR TEG BAHADUR Thapar was serving lunch from his stall outside the Bombay stock exchange on Friday when he was showered with flying glass and broken concrete in one of 13 explosions which rocked the city and left at least 255 people killed and over 1,200 injured. 'I'm lucky to be alive,' he said from his hospital bed. 'Who did this? Who can stop this happening again?' Across Bombay people were asking themselves the same questions this weekend. They sensed there was an enormous difference from the riots which scarred the city in December and again in January. Those were caused by a traditional mix of crime, political agitation and ancient Hindu-Moslem hatreds stirred by the destruction of the mosque in Ayodhya. The weapons used were mostly primitive - knives, clubs and petrol bottles. Friday's outrage, by contrast, bears the deadly stamp of high-technology terrorism, complete with Semtex plastic explosive, high-grade timers, efficient organisation and money. The only comparable previous incident was the assassination in 1991 of Mr Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister, by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger terrorists. But that was a single bomb aimed at one man - the explosions in Bombay were designed to terrorise the nation's commercial capital. Bombay accounts for 35 per cent of India's exports. Mr P V Narasimha Rao, the prime minister, described the blasts as an attack on India's economy. The immediate assumption both at the highest level and in the streets of Bombay was that those responsible must have been foreigners or had foreign help. But these suggestions were seen in Bombay as a deliberate attempt to deflect attention from the people who in the popular mind are the real suspects - Moslem extremists who might have taken revenge for the riots which hit India after the Ayodhya mosque's destruction and which left 2,000 dead, including 700 in Bombay. If Moslems are found to have staged the attacks, the Indian authorities will certainly suspect that the operation was supported from a Moslem country, notably Pakistan. The implications would be vast. Breaking diplomatic relations would be the minimum step Delhi could take on a dangerous road. Mr Rao chose his words carefully during his visit to Bombay: 'There is a definite possibility that our search may not stop within the country. I do not want to name anybody because it will have ramifications within and outside the country.' There is no evidence linking the attacks to Moslem extremists, let alone to Pakistan. Even if Moslem groups are found to be responsible for the bombings, they could have been supplied from other Moslem countries. India would still face a diplomatic crisis but hardly on the same scale. For the moment, such concerns seem remote from the streets on Bombay, where the atmosphere yesterday was calm. Workmen were clearing away rubble at the blast sites, including the blackened stock exchange building. Bombayites seemed determined to put the outrage behind them. At the Gymkhana Club and dozens of other sports grounds, hundreds of men and boys were playing cricket as they do every Sunday. Others were walking along the seafront by the arch of the Gateway of India. The stock exchange authorities plan to re-start trading as soon as they can -probably today - using an old trading floor the exchange vacated only last year. Businessmen estimated the main loss to the city would be the loss of life and injuries and the damage caused to blasted buildings. They did not expect the same widespread disruption to production as occurred during the riots. Some of the credit for the limited disruption should go the government and the police for promptly calling paramilitary and regular troops to help patrol sensitive districts. But much more should go to the people of Bombay, who, so far at least, have refused to be goaded into violent protest by the bombers. 
 THE INDIAN government flew federal paramilitary troops into Bombay last night after more than a dozen bombs exploded in the city, killing about 200 people and injuring more than a thousand. The devices, mostly car bombs, appeared to be a systematic attack on India's commercial heart. All exploded within 90 minutes in the afternoon. Among the targets were the Bombay Stock Exchange, the landmark Air India building, a shopping complex, and two hotels near the airport. The identity of the bombers was unknown, but the attacks were a severe setback to India's attempts to heal the wounds created by recent intercommunal violence, which has caused deep shock throughout India. More than 2,000 people died in riots, including over 700 in Bombay, after the razing of a mosque at Ayodhya in northern India by Hindu zealots on December 6. The bombs appeared designed to stir a renewal of communal strife and to undermine efforts by the government of Mr PV Narasimha Rao to open up the economy and attract foreign investment and tourism. One of the targets was close to the headquarters of Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party accused of fomenting violence during the riots, in which most victims were Moslems. National and local state leaders appealed for calm in an attempt to prevent a renewed outbreak of violence. Mr Rao urged the nation to ignore rumours after the 'inhuman and criminal bomb blasts'. Mr Sharad Pawar, the former federal defence minister just re-appointed chief minister of Maharashtra state, said all roads into Bombay had been blocked and the army put on alert. He said: 'It is aimed at disrupting the economy and it appears a conscious effort because only Bombay seems to be the target.' Mr Shankarrao Chavan, the federal home (interior) minister, told parliament in New Delhi: 'We suspect an international conspiracy.' The Indian High Commission in London said the attacks were 'part of the externally supported terrorism which has targeted India for some time'. However, Indian officials stopped short of directly accusing Pakistan, the country's arch-enemy. The bomb attacks were spread throughout the city and were clearly aimed at the city's better-off business people - in contrast to the riots in which victims were mainly poor. At the 28-storey stock exchange building, about 3,000 people were on the second-storey trading floor when a bomb exploded in the underground car park, hurling shards of glass across the floor and into the street. Some victims were crushed in the stampede to escape. Outside, burned bodies lay among litter from shattered buildings. 
 A ROW has erupted between the Bombay stock exchange, India's largest stock market, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the securities watchdog, over the board's recent first-ever inspection of stockbrokers' books. The Sebi has accused stockbrokers of flouting the exchange's rules, including regulations on margin trading designed to limit the risk of members defaulting through excessive speculative investments. It has also accused the exchange authorities of failing to enforce rules and of poor administration. The stock exchange denied the allegations, saying they were 'baseless, made out of context and blown out of proportion.' The argument will do nothing to restore investors' faith in the stock market where, as measured by the Bombay stock exchange's 30-share index, shares have fallen 48 per cent from their peak early last year, including a 320 points fall since the government's budget was announced two weeks ago. Yesterday the index closed at 2330. Foreign investors, who are being wooed by India as a source of much-needed capital, will also be concerned at the latest allegations of poor management at the exchange. In one of its most damaging passages, the inspectors' report alleges that D S Prabhoodas, a leading firm headed by Mr Hemendra Kothari, a former BSE president, and by Mr Jaswant Chotalal, a member of the BSE's governing body, avoided margin payments totalling Rs185.4m (Pounds 4.08m). Mr Kothari said yesterday that most of the transactions covered by the report were off-exchange deals directly between financial institutions for which margin payments were not required. Mr M R Mayya, the BSE's executive director, said BSE rules permitted such bilateral off-exchange transactions. Sebi also accused the exchange of mismanaging the administration of its building. This week's argument is only the latest in a series of disputes which began almost as soon as Sebi started operations a year ago. It was established by Mr Manmohan Singh, the finance minister, as a crucial element in financial reform. Brokers claim the Sebi is heavy-handed and fails to understand their needs. They say rules must be applied flexibly and many firms are extremely small and unable to carry the cost of extra regulations. But the finance minister is backing Sebi to the hilt and singled it out for praise in his recent budget speech. Finance ministry officials believe loose regulations allow brokers and others to dodge taxes and also contributed to last year's securities market scandal in which banks, including the UK's Standard Chartered Bank, lost a combined gross total of Rs40bn. 
 ONE year ago tomorrow, Mr John Major surprised everyone but himself by winning the general election. His honeymoon, after a very personal victory, was short-lived and now he begins the second year of his hard-won term as a deeply unpopular leader who has everything still to prove. The past 12 months have been hijacked by internal party differences over Europe, by the debacle surrounding UK withdrawal from the exchange rates mechanism of the European Monetary System, and by a continuing, deep recession which has disappointed and alienated many traditional Tory supporters in business. Mr Major's anniversary inevitably led yesterday to an outbreak of political point-scoring over the government's record. While Mr Tony Newton, leader of the Commons, conceded: 'No one pretends that the last year has been easy,' he also claimed that much had been achieved. The government's efforts to secure a framework for long-term prosperity was beginning to pay off. Mr John Smith, the Labour leader, was joined by 10 frontbench colleagues in launching a counter-attack, involving a detailed and documented indictment of Mr Major's failures. He attacked the Tories for building 'a bonfire of pre-election commitments'. Tory allegiances in the business world have also been put under immense pressure, though criticism over policy drift and inaction may soften as recession ends. Yesterday Sir Michael Angus, president of the Confederation of British Industry, remained cautious but volunteered: 'If I were a betting man I would say we have the embryo of a recovery.' Mr Major can take little comfort from the conclusion, widespread among industrialists, that his greatest achievement in the past year has been Britain's withdrawal from the ERM - something which he resisted and over which, in the end, he had no control. Most industrialists, however, find it hard to criticise Mr Major as an individual, with many drawing a flattering parallel between his personal qualities and those of his predecessor. He still attracts gratitude for the election victory, which was seen - despite subsequent problems for the economy - as the best result for business. But, unlike the previous No 10 occupant, he is seen as a weak leader, with little vision and bereft of a clearly articulated political conviction. There is a general perception that, important though Britain's future place in Europe is, the prime minister has been excessively preoccupied with community affairs and associated internal party ructions, to the detriment of the domestic economy. Many industrialists are pleased that Mr Major is now attempting to reshape economic strategy in favour of the manufacturing base. But the jury is out on whether the rhetoric will give way to effective action. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The first 12 months - election victory to an initial Maastricht defeat ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APRIL Wins election with 21 seat majority 'The country looked a Labour government in the eye and decided that it was not after all Time for a Change' - Peter Jenkins, the late political commentator 'We have won tonight a magnificent victory, a victory many people thought beyond our grasp' - Major ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MAY Best Conservative local election results for 13 years in England and Wales. Tories win control of 126 councils ----------------------------------------------------------------------- JUNE Rio Summit No new British aid to finance the conference decisions, only a proposal for a 'Darwin initiative' to exchange information on endangered species. 'I came here with low expectations and all of those have been met' - Jonathon Porritt, the environmental campaigner 'I believe that both in the short and long term, people will look back and say that at Rio we took a decisive step' - Major ----------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY Britain takes over EC presidency 'Those whom the gods would destroy they first grant the presidency of the European Council of Ministers' - Mark Almond, Fellow of the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST Two-day Yugoslav peace conference of 30 nations is presented as triumph of international diplomacy for John Major and UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali 'Talks, what talks?' - Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic as he storms out while Major is speaking ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER Black Wednesday Bank of England interest rates rise to 15 per cent before government takes sterling out of the EMS. 'The sky is darkening with the wings of chickens coming home to roost' - Lord Callaghan 'There is going to be no devaluation, no realignment, the deflationary option would be a betrayal of our future and it is not government policy' - Major ----------------------------------------------------------------------- OCTOBER Mining closures U-turn Michael Heseltine announces review of 21 of 31 pits under threat 'I'm just getting used to being more popular than John Major' - Arthur Scargill 'What has happened is a development of what was in the government's mind. We have to listen to what people say' - Major ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVEMBER Matrix Churchill inquiry John Major challenged over claims he had 'specific' and 'personal' knowledge that Matrix Churchill exported machine tools to Iraq for munitions manufacture. 'Either ministers do not know what is going on in their own departments, or they were not prepared to tell' - Allan Rogers, Labour's former defence procurement spokesman ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DECEMBER Edinburgh conference Concessions granted to Danes in hope voters will approve Maastricht at second referendum. Agreement on EC spending levels, Maastricht back on track for ratification ----------------------------------------------------------------------- JANUARY Major launches libel action against New Statesman &amp; Society and Scallywag over allegations linking him with businesswoman Claire Latimer. 'It is not our intention to slur the prime minister' - Steve Platt, editor of New Statesman ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEBRUARY Unemployment tops 3m 'Provided the circumstances are right there is no reason why we shouldn't bounce back this time' - Gillian Shephard, secretary of state for employment ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MARCH Maastricht debate More than 40 Tory MPs revolt in first Commons defeat on Maastricht treaty legislation, defying Major's appeal for party unity 'When they started out they weren't even household names in their own homes' - David Mellor on Tory Euro-rebels ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 AS THE value of the rouble plunges and potential foreign investors worry about a host of obstacles to investing in Russia, Russian officials had several reasons yesterday to feel thankful for McDonald's hamburgers. Opening the second McDonald's restaurant in Moscow, along with a 12-storey office block, Mr George Cohon, head of McDonald's Canada, could well be described as the Russian authorities' idea of a model investor. McDonald's proven determination 'to be here for the long term' and to serve Russians in their own currency as opposed to the dollars charged by most other foreign joint ventures are just a couple of reasons for Russian gratitude. Mr Viktor Khlystun, the agriculture minister, praised the fact that McDonald's gets most of its supplies from inside Russia after setting up a Dollars 45m processing plant outside Moscow. He also thanked McDonald's for providing jobs, a model of western standards for the country's decrepit service industry, and finally for what he described as 'the most delicious food'. But despite the jolly opening ceremony - with Big Macs, musicians playing the balalaika, and hundreds of yellow balloons forming a giant M - life has been tough for McDonald's since it opened its first restaurant in Moscow 3 1/2 years ago. Although the first Moscow restaurant is the busiest McDonald's in the world the plunging rouble, high inflation and constantly changing tax rules have been a challenge to McDonald's management, who admitted that they have no idea of when it could recoup its initial Dollars 50m investment. 'It will depend on how rapidly we can open new restaurants, what happens to the rouble, what happens to raw materials that we buy. We don't have an estimate of how long it will take. There are too many variables,' said Mr Cohon. Apart from housing the restaurant on the ground floor, the McDonald's office block is rented out to western companies in an attempt to generate hard currency alongside the mountains of roubles made from selling hamburgers. 
 THE revelation that John Major is capable of candid, blunt and salty language when talking off-the- record to friendly journalists has surprised some people. It has even been suggested that the recording of the prime minister's conversation with Michael Brunson, ITN's political editor, in which Major used a variety of four-, six- and eight-letter words to communicate his lack of fondness for certain colleagues, may do him good. With luck, it is reckoned, Major's image as a leaden-tongued wimp may undergo correction. What piffle. Major is a gonner, especially after this week's revolt of the wooden-tops in the Christchurch by-election, where a Conservative majority of 23,015 at last year's general election was converted into a 16,427 majority for the Liberal Democrats. Fifteen months too late, the voters of Christchurch rounded on the Tories with a malignant and squeaky fury. In reality, all politicians, not just Major, are far more candid and salty when chatting in private than when speaking in public. In public, they have to be careful of what they say, so their utterances achieve a horrible mattness. But in private they relax. Their syntax disappears. Their words become nonsensical. They swear and joke and shout. It really is a spectacle. To show you what I mean, I spoke yesterday to John Major and John Smith. Smith, a Scot, is leader of the Labour Party, though not many people know that. In the aftermath of Christchurch, where Labour lost its deposit, I wanted to provoke the two Johns into a spot of real soul-searching. To guarantee them privacy, I used a signal-scrambler. No one could have eavesdropped. Their responses were true to form. But I have left out the swear-words because the new Financial Times Style Guide states that 'the gratuitous use of expletives or obscenities is discouraged . . . Four-letter expletives will usually be confined to infrequent use in the review (Arts) pages.' I can live with that, though why the artsy-fartsies should receive any dispensation is a puzzle. First, I tackled Major. I said: 'Did you read, John, what Olivier Blanchard, Rudiger Dornbusch, Stanley Fischer, Franco Modigliani, Paul A Samuelson and Robert Solow wrote, in just one article, in the FT this week? They were describing Europe's lunatic monetary policies and exchange rate arrangements. They did not pull their punches. I bet you went chalk-white. 'So why not walk the plank, John? You are the most unpopular prime minister since the start of the fourth century. Why invite more punishment? Unfairly or not, you are drawing the blame for all life's unpleasantnesses, let alone the cock-ups.' 'Are you sure?' the prime minister replied. 'I mean . . . how did it come about, Michael . . . like, Christchurch, y'know - load of . . . let me put it to you - the economy, of course . . . I mean, wimpy guy like me. But I'm not giving in like that, like . . .' On and on it went. Then I rang John Smith. I told him I had been impressed with his interview with Andrew Marr in The Independent on Thursday, in which he sharpened up his promise to introduce meaty political reforms (if he ever gets elected), including a referendum on proportional representation. I said: 'You are starting to raise your game, John. Many people will have agreed with your assertion that democracy in Britain is decaying, and that the Tories must be roasted for their arrogance, incompetence, complacency and sharp practices - especially their 'centralisation of power and the elimination of opposition'. But some of your critics still accuse you, John, of laziness and ineffectualness. What do you say to that?' 'Away, ye thowless jad,' shouted the Labour leader. 'Gie me o'wit an' sense a life, behint a kist to lie an' sklent. Our Stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen, a clever, sturdy fellow, but then he was sae fley'd by his showther gae a keek, an' tumbl'd wi' a wintle. Likewise with political and constitutional reform, Michael, for by the L - - d, tho' I should beg wi'lyart pow, I'll laugh, an' sing, an' shake my leg, as lang's I dow]' After that, I thought of telephoning Wing-Commander Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal Democrats, to solicit his views on Christchurch. But I couldn't raise the energy. 
 COALMINERS from Romania's Jiu Valley, who spearheaded violent anti-reform rampages through Bucharest in 1990 and 1991, are once again out on strike, pressing the government for higher wages. But so far the government, unlike its predecessors, has not caved in. It has instead begun legal action to have the strike, which today entered its second week, declared illegal. The miners' position seems untenable. Romanians appear solidly opposed to the strike, angered by the miners' demands for an average wage of the equivalent of Dollars 290 a month. Most workers earn less than Dollars 80. Workers in the same trade union confederation as the miners have ignored appeals by their leaders to strike in solidarity. The Ministry of Industry argues that the 6m tonnes of pit coal produced each year in the Jiu Valley's 13 mines is not a vital source of energy. The region's coal supplies two nearby power stations but these plants, which together account for only 4 per cent of the country's electricity capacity, could also be run using lignite and gas. The ministry further argues that the miners are in danger of pricing their coal out of the market. According to the ministry, if the miners' pay demands were met, the cost of their coal would double. Even at present prices, Ukrainian coal is being imported to the Romanian market. The strike seems motivated by a number of factors. The rank and file have come out because they want more money to compensate for the difficult conditions in which they live and work. They are also following the call of their charismatic leader, Mr Miron Cosma, the man who led them on protests to Bucharest and secured their earlier wage increases. Mr Cosma's motive for calling the strike - for which, surprisingly, he has the support of RAH, the state-owned coal mining company - are less obvious. The ministries of industry and finance are conducting investigations into charges of fraud and embezzlement by Mr Cosma and several senior RAH company officials. The company's chief accountant and budget director have already been fired, following earlier investigations. Ministry of Industry officials argue the strike could be an attempt to divert attention from the investigations. Mr Cosma, however, appears confident. One of his bargaining tools is the threat, albeit veiled, of fresh violence. In response to the question as to whether he intends to lead his men, who appear to support him whole-heartedly, to Bucharest again, he says: 'With miners, anything is possible.' But he is also making political threats. In recent months, Mr Cosma has claimed he has evidence that senior government officials, including President Ion Iliescu, called miners to Bucharest as part of plans to consolidate their own power. Mr Cosma appears increasingly willing to talk if his demands are not met. It remains to be seen whether those involved in the incidents of 1990 and 1991 now feel confident enough to ignore him. 
 The international community is starting to look beyond the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, and is becoming increasingly aware of the true magnitude and seriousness of ethnic and political conflicts in the former Soviet Union. The problem is indeed a pressing one. The disputes in the Transcaucasus, central Asia, and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union are causing great suffering for those involved. They are a source of legitimate concern to the Russians, who are worried by clashes close to their borders. They are concerned too about the safety of ethnic Russians living in those countries where there are conflicts, and about the economic and social consequences of refugees fleeing to Russia (whose potential number is estimated at more than 2m). They believe that the problems in some of the former Soviet republics are either ignored or misunderstood. The Russians fear that if they do nothing, the conflicts will worsen and probably spread. They argue that they have a legitimate concern in trying to resolve conflicts that threaten their security. They ask why, when the international community is engaged in peacemaking and peacekeeping in many of the world's trouble spots, similar efforts should not be undertaken in the hot spots near them. Equally, these disputes are of legitimate concern to Britain, its western partners and the whole international community, both for humanitarian reasons and because such flashpoints risk provoking regional instability. If uncontrolled, they pose a variety of threats to European security, including increased traffic in drugs and arms as well as international terrorism. Crises in Russia's newly independent neighbours may also complicate Russia's relations with the west: unless they are carefully handled, they risk prejudicing the emerging relationship between us. The west is sometimes suspicious of Moscow's attitude. There are no differences about the need to resolve these conflicts: but there are differences over how to go about it. The British government will not underwrite Russian involvement unless it is sure that peacekeeping troops will not turn into occupying forces. Nor are countries that secured their independence when the Soviet Union was dissolved keen that the west should concede to Moscow the same role it played in the Soviet empire. They fear that this would compromise their sovereignty. When they are willing for Russian troops to play a peacekeeping role, they want there to be some form of international monitoring. This has meant that, even though the west lacks the resources to engage directly in those trouble spots, it has been wary of appearing to endorse Russian involvement instead, in case it had imperial tendencies. If we are to fashion a joint approach by Russia and its western partners to the problem of peacekeeping in the former Soviet Union, we must address all these concerns. Clearly Russia has an important role to play in this area. If the Russians want international recognition and more active support from the international community, the west in turn needs guarantees that Russia will not regard recognition of its involvement as giving it carte blanche in the former Soviet Union. Peace-keeping in the former Soviet Union, as indeed peacekeeping elsewhere, must comply with internationally recognised principles. It needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. Respect for the sovereignty of the newly independent countries must remain paramount. We agreed that the principles underlying Russian, CIS or international peacekeeping operations would need to include: strict respect for the sovereignty of the countries involved; an invitation from the government concerned and the consent of the parties to the conflict; commitment to a parallel political peace process; a clear mandate setting out the role of the peacekeeping forces (which should whenever possible be multinational in character); and an exit strategy for the peacekeeping forces deployed. These principles should help stimulate a dialogue and political settlement between the parties to the conflict, focus attention and, where possible, resources on the settlement of conflicts in the former Soviet Union. All this will help enhance Russian peacekeeping practices. Although the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the UN lack the resources to put large numbers of peacekeepers on the ground themselves, they may be able to suggest measures to enhance transparency and to monitor the peace process. Extending co-operation within the North Atlantic Co-operation Council, and also co-operation between Russia and Nato, might help improve training for Russian peacekeepers. This is an area we shall need to explore further. We also need to put much more emphasis on preventive diplomacy. One of the ways in which we can help prevent conflicts is to strengthen the democratic institutions in the newly independent countries of the former Soviet Union. The CSCE and other international institutions can play an important role here, drawing the newly independent countries into a more active dialogue on ways of promoting democratic values and principles. We discussed ways of strengthening the CSCE's role, including the role of the High Commissioner for National Minorities, at the recent Rome ministerial meeting. We must try to find ways of managing and resolving tensions before they erupt into conflict. It will not be easy, but we must try. Potentially explosive cocktails of ethnic and political animosities could spread the fire of intolerance all too easily to other countries and regions. We need to deal with it together in the spirit of partnership. And we need to deal with it urgently. Our security is indivisible and we must ensure it by vigorous and imaginative efforts aimed at promoting peace for all as well as rights for all. The authors are UK foreign secretary and Russian foreign minister 
 Sir Nicholas Lyell QC, the attorney-general, will attempt to stop the curtain rising on Maxwell: The Musical, the West End show chronicling the life and times of the late Robert Maxwell. Fears that the musical might prejudice the criminal trial of the late publisher's sons, Kevin and Ian, have prompted Sir Nicholas to apply to the High Court on Monday for an injunction to halt the production. The musical tells the tycoon's life story through updated versions of familiar tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan. Now in rehearsal, the show is due to open at London's Criterion theatre on February 11. The attorney-general's move to close down a West End production before its first night is regarded as without precedent. However, it is no more unprecedented, most lawyers say, than the prospect of the Maxwell brothers having to commute to their trial at the Old Bailey past a theatre advertising the story of their father as 'the musical review that will make you laugh, sing - and be angry'. The musical, which has cost Pounds 1.1m to put on, has been produced by Mr Evan Steadman, a former chairman of one of Maxwell's private companies. Mr Steadman indicated yesterday he intended the show to go on and that the attorney-general's application for an injunction would be contested. However, he said he was leaving matters in the hands of his lawyers. Press coverage of the late publisher since his death has already caused deep concern to the Maxwell brothers' lawyers . Mr Alun Jones QC, Kevin Maxwell's barrister, led calls for reporting restrictions to be placed on a recent High Court ruling that Robert Maxwell had been fraudulent in his dealings with shares in Berlitz, the publishing company. Turning down his request, the judge asked him: 'Is it going to be your client's defence that Mr Robert Maxwell was not guilty of misappropriation?' At that point, lawyers in court themselves fell about laughing. 
 Two writs have been filed alleging that Goldman Sachs, the US-based investment bank, assisted in diverting Pounds 55m from two pension schemes controlled by Robert Maxwell to ensure its own debts from Maxwell interests would be repaid. The writs were filed late last week in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan by trustees for Mirror Group Newspapers Pension Scheme and Maxwell Communication Corpora-tion Works Pension Scheme. The trustees seek more than Dollars 100m for the sale of shares plus interest, commission charges and punitive damages from Goldman and Mr Eric Sheinberg, partner in charge of international equities trading. The writs centre on the purchase of Pounds 55m of MCC shares from the pension schemes by two Swiss trusts, Servex and Yakosa, which were transacted through Goldman and for which the schemes were never paid. The writs allege Goldman was aware the trusts were controlled by Robert Maxwell. The writs also allege that on May 28 1991 - the same date Mr Kevin Maxwell arranged for the pension fund share transaction to be paid for - Goldman was due to receive Dollars 58.2m for an unrelated transaction selling MCC stock to an unnamed American lawyer 'with close connections to Robert Maxwell'. The writs claim that Goldman was 'competing directly with its customer, the pension fund trustee, for payment'. On April 26 1991, they say, Mr Kevin Maxwell told Mr Sheinberg to sell the pension scheme shares to the Swiss trusts. On May 23 he told Goldman to remit the proceeds of the sale not to the pension schemes but to Bishopsgate Investment Trust, which Goldman knew or should have known was controlled by the Maxwell family. The writs allege that after the deal was struck Mr Trevor Cook, MGN pension fund administrator, told Goldman that proceeds of the sale should be paid to the pension scheme, but when Mr Kevin Maxwell ordered the proceeds to be paid to BIT. The writs say that Goldman and Sheinberg 'made no reasonable effort to determine who had actual authority to direct for the pension fund that the shares be sold and where the more than Dollars 47m in proceeds from the transfer of the 12.5m shares should go'. Goldman said it had 'received no money or other benefit from these transactions other than its brokerage commissions of Pounds 110,000 which were substantially less than the amount of the applicable stamp duties paid to the Inland Revenue of Pounds 215,000'. 
 Last year a biography of Mrs Norma Major - or, if we are being old-fashioned, Mrs John Major - claimed that the Majors' favourite film was Being There. I entirely concur with their choice. In case you did not see that marvellous film, this, in essence, was the plot: a man no one knows anything about, a gardener called Chauncey, rises without trace to become, by the end of the film, a serious candidate for the US presidency. Chauncey, played by Peter Sellers, utters only mundane sentiments in a halting monotone but this convinces the Republican party's power brokers that he is a sure-fire winner. In Chauncey's bromides everyone seems to hear what they want to believe. He has a deadly innocence. No wonder the Majors liked this film. John Major must, at some level, have appreciated the similarity between his own, strangely intangible, rise and that of Chauncey's. If he did not see the similarity, that is still more revealing. Do not protest that the urban John Major could not identify with a gardener. In an interview with Farmers Weekly, a few days ago, Major disclosed an unknown fact: his father was once a farmer. Farmers Weekly, you see, had asked Major how he had 'such obvious empathy with agriculture'. (Well, it was obvious to Farmers Weekly, anyway.) And Major replied: 'It's simple. My father was a farmer. He lived on a small farm somewhere in Shropshire.' Francis Wheen of The Guardian, a keen student of Major's mysterious past, immediately rang 10 Downing Street, which claimed that Major's father farmed near Bromsgrove in 1910. As Wheen pointed out, Major was an unresponsive minus 33 years old at that time, and - a minor point this - Bromsgrove is not in Shropshire. This, of course, does not mean that Major made everything up. Family folklore is a peculiar thing. Yet when I heard about this, my mind immediately went back to an incident a few months ago, when Major visited Pittsburgh, centre of the US steel industry, as part of his American tour. I recall that he made a great hit by recounting that his father had been a steelworker in the city. A farmer for Farmers Weekly, a Pittsburgh steelworker for the American audience . . . a pattern emerges. Major's father, and therefore by extension John Major himself, can be all things to all people. If John Major were a different sort of politician, this would be a point barely worth making. But it does seem all of a piece with Major's approach to wider political issues. On the one hand he will appeal to the pro-Europeans in his own party by claiming to want Britain to be at the heart of Europe. On the other he is free with insulting references to the European Commission, whenever it is necessary to appeal to an audience of Euro-sceptics. There are those who will argue that this merely means that Major is a typical democratic politician, that one who wants to become prime minister in a democracy must recognise many constituencies of interest, not just one. But that has not been true of Major's most recent Conservative predecessors. Margaret Thatcher was notoriously dogmatic, even in public, and so too was Edward Heath, even though he always pretended to be a 'consensus politician'. No, Major's technique is very much his own invention, very much a reflection of his own particular character, itself a product of his unsettled family background. His father, Tom Major-Ball, was an itinerant figure, moving from place to place, trying his hand at any number of occupations, including the circus. No wonder the young John Major learned the skill of fitting in with prevailing circumstances, no matter how fluctuating. The only problem is the old one: you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Except in the movies. Dominic Lawson is editor of The Spectator 
 Ferries are among the safest vessels afloat. But, as the tragic sinking of the Estonia with the loss of more than 800 lives demonstrates, when they do go down the toll in human life can be high. As ferries increase in size, so the numbers on board at risk from mechanical failure or a crew error go up. The move to roll-on roll-off ferries with vehicle decks which run the entire length of the vessel has increased the risk that, once the sea penetrates the hold through the bow doors or a gash in the ship's side, it can lead to the vessel capsizing. The United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and its members, the ship-owning nations, have devoted much thought over the past two decades to ship safety. But the sinking of the Estonia should lead to a new review of ferry safety. Particularly worrying are the eyewitness reports which suggest that water penetrated the bow doors in a manner reminiscent of the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987. Unlike the Herald, the Estonia appears to have had its doors closed, but ro-ros are undoubtedly very vulnerable to water penetration. Any review of ferry safety should focus on three main issues. First the subject of ferry design should be reconsidered. Additional stability could be provided by the addition of sponsons, stabilising bulges which project from the ship's side just above the water line. Greater resistance to an influx of water could be obtained by installing moveable barriers or bulkheads to break up the large car decks. These proposals were looked at by the British government in the wake of the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise. It calculated that it would cost between Pounds 70m and Pounds 85m to improve standards on the 57 vessels in the UK ferry fleet, with a further Pounds 22m in extra annual running costs. Higher costs would inevitably lead to higher fares - unwelcome to ferry operators when, on the short cross-Channel routes, they face competition from the Channel tunnel. But the difficulty of pushing through fare rises would be nothing like as damaging to the ferry companies as another disaster. Second, the IMO and national governments must look closely at how to improve enforcement of existing regulations. The IMO has been trying to move enforcement up its agenda, but it depends on the good will and professionalism of governments and shipowners. Third, the IMO should be given support by national governments in its campaign, launched yesterday, to improve crew training. Much of the regulation in recent years has concentrated on improving the ship and its equipment. Above all, if new regulation does turn out to be necessary, it must be introduced speedily. As things stand, it can take years before changes are ratified by enough governments to give them force. The European Union, which Sweden and Finland are getting ready to join, could take a lead in speeding up the process. Ship safety is not, of course, just an issue for the ferry sector. Five (small) ferries were lost last year, according to Lloyd's Register. But this figure pales into insignificance compared with the 96 general cargo ships and 12 tankers which also went down. When a cargo vessel with a third-world crew goes down in a distant ocean, very little attention is paid. If the loss of a relatively modern passenger vessel in European waters can make shipping safety a higher priority for governments and the public, this will be some small compensation for the loss of life from the Estonia. 
 It is a sensational shortlist: a bestseller about love and hypnotism, a blockbuster about battles and brides in Ruritania, and a pornographic shocker about teenage sex and baby murder so explicit that only an obscure Newcastle publisher would risk printing it. Out are the eminences gris of Victorian letters - novels by Thomas Hardy and Mrs Humphry Ward, who advised Gladstone and Roosevelt, didn't make the grade. This week the shortlist for the hypothetical 1894 Booker Prize will be announced by six judges, including biographer Victoria Glendinning and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg. They have avoided dull and worthy classics and chosen six books which stirred the fin de siecle world and remain compelling today: George du Maurier's Trilby, Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, George Moore's Esther Waters, Kipling's Jungle Book, George Gissing's In the Year of Jubilee and RL Stevenson's The Ebb Tide. The winner will be revealed on October 15 (four days after the 1994 Booker Prize ceremony) at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. Like today's Booker Prize, it is a publishing gimmick; Everyman, which is backing the spoof award, is a significant publisher of classic Victorian novels. But the retrospective Booker is also a fascinating exercise in historical reconstruction. It raises questions about how the relationship between literature and society has changed in the past 100 years. First, the similarities. A good yarn is a good yarn. Of the 1894 books, Trilby is the tale of a tone-deaf model who sings like an angel when mesmerised by the sinister hypnotist Svengali, then croaks like a crow when he dies during one of her concerts. The Prisoner of Zenda tells of an Englishman impersonating the King of Ruritania and rescuing him from demons. On the 1994 list Romesh Guneskera's Reef is about a Sri Lankan servant boy and his mysterious master, while Jill Paton Walsh's Knowledge of Angels re-enacts the wolf-child legend. All the books on both lists are gripping stories. The lists share key themes. Both, for instance, have books about colonial exploitation - Stevenson's The Ebb Tide and Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise, which is set in the First World War in German East Africa. Both provoke in similar ways. The controversial books of 1894 were Trilby, with its louche vie boheme milieu, and Esther Waters, in which a 17-year-old girl is seduced, impregnated and offered the services of a professional baby killer for a fiver. It is now seen as Moore's best work, but in 1894 it had problems finding a publisher and the powerful circulating libraries refused to take it. A century on, the relationship between fiction and sexual morality remains vexed. Last week, a Times critic complained about the inclusion of Alan Hollinghurst's candid novel of homosexual love, The Folding Star, on the Booker list, because it offended Judaeo-Christian ethics. But even if Hollinghurst wins the Booker, his novel will not become the succes de scandale of Esther Waters and Trilby, which became the bestselling novel of the 19th century. For the great difference between then and now is that in 1894 a Booker Prize was not needed to sell fiction. Today, we accept the gap between literary writing, such as Hollinghurst's, and popular bestsellers by writers like Jeffrey Archer and Barbara Cartland. This is the gap the Booker tries to bridge by giving high-level publicity to works which would not normally reach a mass audience. The trick works - last year's winner, Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha sold 360,000 hardback copies. Before the short-list was announced it sold 10,600. The Victorians, in contrast, were lovers of contemporary fiction. Novels accounted for 20 per cent of published books, and no distinction was made between high and low art. In the mid 19th century, Dickens made Pounds 12,000 for Little Dorrit, the equivalent of nearly Pounds 400,000 today. Between 1861 and 1894, when the population of the UK was half that of today and the literate population smaller still, Mrs Henry Wood's East Lynne sold 400,000 copies. All the 1894 Booker writers were popular names; they were also serious, skilful writers whose books can be reread with pleasure 100 years later. Why was fiction so much closer to the public heart in 1894? Social, cultural and psychological reasons play a part. Socially, the 1890s reading public was a vastly more homogenous group than today: a small number of middle class authors wrote for a middle class audience at a time when to be literate was to belong to an elite. The idea of a two-tier, up and down-market, fiction was irrelevant. Culturally, these writers and readers were certain of their place in the mainstream, and the novel was their political and intellectual forum. Today we no longer share the Victorian confidence in the novel as a key genre of our age. Modernism and the overturning of the traditional form by Joyce and Woolf weakened 20th-century belief in the novel and encouraged the divergence between highbrow and lowbrow. The dominance of film and television has made novels a more marginal form and perhaps they no longer attract the most creative talents. George du Maurier originally offered the outline of Trilby to Henry James, who he thought would write a better novel. Today du Maurier would have sold it to Hollywood or the BBC. The fantasy element of fiction, in which we identify with characters as if we know them, was answered in the 19th century by the novel; in the 20th century we have TV soaps. Just as the tabloid newspapers feature characters from EastEnders, so when Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop was running as a serial there was widespread press speculation on whether Little Nell would die, and readers wrote in begging for her to be saved. Sentimentality, accessibility, topicality - what characterises today's soaps were clear features of the novel in 1894. Both In the Year of Jubilee and Esther Waters, for example, centre on the burning 1890s debate about marriage, feminism and the 'New Woman', yet both are also tearjerkers which everyone enjoyed. The 1894 books are compelling because they prefigure our own times and yet are set back from them. Trilby is a tale of hypnotism and the unconscious a decade away from Freud; The Ebb Tide paved the way for Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the first questioning of colonial oppression. It is unlikely that the 1994 Booker choices will speak as eloquently of new trends today. Whereas the 1894 titles had contemporary settings, many of the 1994 books are historical (such as Paradise) or are driven by nostalgia (such as Beside the Ocean of Time). Which book will win on October 15? Stevenson will get the sympathy vote because he died in 1894 in Samoa, the setting of The Ebb Tide. Jungle Book will get the retrospective vote, because it is the best-known today and has fashionable mythic overtones in the lost paradise of Mowgli's jungle; its position on the list may also rescue it from schmaltzy Disney associations and confirm it as a serious novel about a young man's self-discovery. My vote goes to Trilby. Soft-focus, ideologically shaky - in its anti-Semitic portrait of Svengali - and sometimes sloppy, it is a story of demonic possession and haunts the imagination like a fairy tale long after better-written works have faded from memory. Like Rebecca, the popular novel by du Maurier's granddaughter, it is a natural equivalent of what the current Booker Prize seeks to create: a combination of the classic and the bestseller. 
 The shortlist of six for the Pounds 20,000 Booker Prize for fiction, announced yesterday, immediately prompted the question 'Who?' from many in the publishing industry. According to one insider, some on the list 'are B-team writers at best'. The six include Alan Hollinghurst's The Folding Star (published by Chatto and Windus), a melancholy study of homosexual obsession which was tipped as a likely candidate from the initial 'long list' of 15, The Reef (Granta) by young Sri Lankan writer Romesh Gunesekera and How Late It Was, How Late (Secker and Warburg) by gritty Glasgow realist James Kelman, which was almost universally well-reviewed. As for the other three - Knowledge of Angels (Green Bay) a philosophical fable by children's author Jill Paton Walsh, Paradise (Hamish Hamilton) by Zanzibar-born writer Abdulrazak Gurnah and Beside the Ocean of Time (John Murray) by 72-year-old Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown - 'frankly, they don't make the grade'. The shortlist for the Booker, the UK's most hyped literary prize and one of the most lucrative, is all the more surprising in a bumper year for new fiction fulfilling the criteria - English language and non-American - for consideration for the award. Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride seems an astonishing omission, as do new novels by Peter Ackroyd, Peter Carey, Candia McWilliam, William Trevor and Jim Crace. But if the shortlist of the final six candidates for the prize may be disappointing, the traditional controversy surrounding the award is as rife as ever. One unsurprising omission from the final selection was When The World Was Steady, a first novel by Claire Messud, which was on the 'long list' before it was pointed out that the author was the wife of James Wood, chief literary reviewer of The Guardian newspaper and a Booker judge. Professor John Bayley, chairman of the Booker panel and husband of former Booker Prize winner Dame Iris Murdoch, expressed surprise at Mr Wood's failure to reveal his relationship with Ms Messud. But it is the final list, rather than the controversy, that discredits the award according to some critics. 'This list,' said one man of letters, 'must have dealt a final death blow to the Booker.' The winner, selected from an original 130, will be announced on October 11. 
 'WAL-MART: A HISTORY OF SAM WALTON'S RETAIL PHENOMENON' by Sandra S. Vance and Roy V. Scott Twayne Publishers, New York, Dollars 14.95 240 pages Many people might be said to be the personification of the American Dream; few are better qualified for that title than Sam Walton. Walton is a character it would be difficult to invent, an all-American boy who became one of the world's most successful businessmen. The church-going son of a farmer born in 1918 near Kingfisher, Oklahoma, he founded a store chain which made him America's richest man, and which, shortly before his death in 1992, became the world's biggest retailer. His company, Wal-Mart, made sales of Dollars 55bn last year, and after Walton's death Fortune magazine reported that his wife and four children held between them the second-largest fortune in the world - Dollars 23.5bn. What is most startling about Wal-Mart is the speed of its growth. Although Walton built up a small chain of Ben Franklin variety store franchises from 1945, it was not until 1962 that he opened his first Wal-Mart discount store. At the time of its incorporation in 1971, Wal-Mart had only 38 outlets with sales of Dollars 44m - not enough to earn a place in trade journal Discount Merchandiser's list of the 71 biggest US discount retailers. Ten years later, with 330 stores and Dollars 1.6bn sales, it was only the 33rd-biggest retailer in the US. Its turnover was only 9 per cent of that of Sears Roebuck, the biggest, and 11 per cent of K mart, the second-biggest. Within another 10 years, Wal-Mart had overtaken them both. Apart from Walton's autobiography completed shortly before his death, however, published material about the company is curiously scarce. This book attempts to fill the gap, to provide a 'scholarly account' of the rise of Wal-Mart, setting it in the wider context of US retailing, and explaining how it was achieved. One strength the authors identify is Wal-Mart's ability to copy and adapt from other retailers. Sam Walton did not invent discount retailing. Rather, he realised the threat discounting posed to his own variety store business and studied in depth many of the US's leading discounters of the early 1960s, including Ann and Hope, E J Korvette, Spartan's, Fed-Mart, and K mart. Walton learned from them all, but was unique in taking his discount stores into small towns of a few thousand people, where shoppers used to travelling long distances were delighted to have a cut-price store nearby selling everything they needed. Another strength is Wal-Mart's openness to technology. As early as the 1950s, Walton realised he was wasting too much time travelling and bought a small aircraft to pilot between stores himself - something he continued to do to the end of his life. Sometimes, Walton was more reluctant to invest in technology, and had to be persuaded by colleagues to introduce computers, and scanning at check-outs - long before most retailers had recognised their importance - and to invest Dollars 20m in an internal satellite communications system. This technology helped Wal-Mart build one of the most efficient distribution systems of any retailer. But perhaps the most fundamental reason for its success, the book suggests, has been Wal-Mart's streamlined and highly responsive management structure. Regional vice-presidents based at group headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, rather than in costly regional offices, are despatched every Monday by aircraft to their regions, spend the week visiting stores, working with staff and managers, and return for a day-long merchandising meeting every Friday. They discuss results, problems and suggestions from the week at a 7.30am meeting on Saturdays and immediately afterwards call district managers to relate the results. District managers hold a conference call with their store managers, and before the day is out, the contents of the meeting have been communicated to all store department heads. The system means employees can make suggestions to vice-presidents one week and, if the idea is accepted by the Saturday meeting, see its implementation begin the following week. Even the world's most successful retailer makes mistakes, however. One was Walton's decision to stand down from the chairman and chief executive's role in 1974 in favour of Ronald Mayer, only to return to both roles in 1976 after finding he was incapable of letting go of the reins. Another was Wal-Mart's short-lived Hypermart format, which proved too big even for gigantist America. Then there was Walton's rash promise to do a 'hula dance' on Wall Street if Wal-Mart achieved an 8 per cent pre-tax profit margin in 1984. It did, and he did. The book also covers well the debate over whether Wal-Mart's impact on the economies of small US towns was positive or negative. If there are criticisms, these are that this 'scholarly account' never quite captures the sheer excitement of working in the world's fastest-growing retailer. Moreover, it makes little attempt to predict whether Wal-Mart can continue its growth, and conquer the rest of the world in the way it conquered the US. But this is a well-researched and accessible account of one man's success in building his own American dream. 
 After hours of heated delib-eration - under a system described as 'mad' by one judge - the Pounds 20,000 Booker Prize for fiction last night went to Mr James Kelman for How Late It Was, How Late, published by Secker and Warburg. The novel, a story of Scottish low-life narrated largely in Glaswegian dialect, is unlikely to prove a popular choice with booksellers, who have damned all six books shortlisted for the prize as boring, elitist and - worst of all - unsaleable. Professor John Bayley, chairman of the Booker judges, acknowledged that Mr Kelman's book in particular might be deemed inaccessible. 'We had an extremely difficult final meeting and were very divided,' he said after three hours of debate. Rabbi Julia Neuberger, the only woman on the judging panel, said she was made extremely cross by the decision. 'It's just a drunken Scotsman railing against bureaucracy,' she said. 'My eyes are stretched in disbelief. The voting system is completely mad. Kelman was the least favourite of the three front runners. If it had been a short story it would have been fine.' Mr Kelman's book is, according to some observers, the most difficult work to have won the prize. In his acceptance speech, Mr Kelman, perceived by some as a Scottish isolationist, anticipated the criticism, by declaring: 'My culture and my language have the right to exist.' One guest at the prize-giving dinner at London's Guildhall, Mr Salman Rushdie, who won the prize in 1981 with Midnight's Children, remarked: 'James Kelman is good, but not as good as he thinks he is.' The Booker prize has, in its 26-year history, always provoked controversy. But this year's rows have been of a particularly fine vintage. Prof Bayley went on record with a rousing condemnation of contemporary fiction. Another judge, Mr James Wood, literary critic of The Guardian, was attacked for failing to reveal that a young novelist being considered for the award, Ms Claire Messud, was in fact Mrs James Wood. Most damaging of all was the verdict of the booksellers, who dismissed the shortlist as narcoleptic. The other contenders were The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst, Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown, Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Reef by Romesh Gunesekera and Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh. In spite of heavy publicity, the novels nominated have been selling 50 per cent less than last year's shortlist. Last year's winner, Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, sold 350,000 copies. 'Kelman's novel is unlikely to come anywhere near that,' one bookseller said. Mr Kelman was also shortlisted for the prize in 1989 for his novel A Disaffection. 
 Patrick Edward Purdy, who turned a powerful assault rifle on a crowded school playground Tuesday, killing five children and wounding 29 more, had been a student at the school from kindergarten through third grade, officials said today. The revelation's significance was not immediately clear, although it appeared to suggest that the attack at Cleveland Elementary was not altogether random. Police officials said they still had not determined what set off Purdy, a troubled drifter in his mid-20s with a history of relatively minor brushes with the law. The midday attack, which lasted only minutes, ended when Purdy mortally wounded himself in the head with a pistol, leaving his motive unexplained. "I don't understand why, and I probably won't ever know why," said Purdy's grandmother, 63-year-old Julia Chumbley, who lives nearby in Lodi. Other relatives described Purdy as a child alcoholic and a loner who had bounced across America, looking for work as a welder. Cleveland Elementary was in session today, although only a little more than 200 pupils -- roughly one-fourth of the student body -- showed up for classes. Those who did attend were greeted at the school by escorts who guided them through a thicket of reporters and cameras. Counselors were stationed in each classroom to help the children come to grips with the horror of the previous day. Each child was given a stuffed animal at the principal's office. Teachers said they did not know what to expect. "I'll just try to get through the day," said Vicki Braga, who teaches fourth grade. The front entrance of the school was decorated with bouquets of yellow gladioli, purple mums and five red roses. Someone also had placed there a pink teddy bear with angel's wings. A banner stretched across the front said "Racists are ugly -- let's stop them." The banner's message enunciated an early suspicion that the racial composition of the student body might have contributed to Purdy's motivation. More than 600 of the 980 students are the sons and daughters of refugees from Southeast Asia. Police, however, said there was as yet no evidence that race played a role. "Whether he had some feelings against the Southeast Asian community as a whole, we haven't determined that," said Stockton Police Capt. Dennis Perry. Investigators had not yet determined if any teachers at Cleveland Elementary were there when Purdy was in attendance from 1969 to 1973. His record at the school showed "normal behavior," officials said. He transferred out in the third grade to a school in Sacramento. Police investigators last night searched the Lodi motel room where Purdy had been staying. He had checked in the day after Christmas, and was paid up through Jan. 23. They found more than 100 plastic toy soldiers arrayed about the room, along with toy jeeps and tanks, in what appeared to be a imaginary battle scene. "What the significance is, I don't know," Perry said. "He obviously had a military hang-up of some kind." 
 Ray Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, were found not guilty Thursday of molesting children at the family-run McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach, a verdict which brought to a close the longest and costliest criminal trial in history. An eight-man, four-woman jury -- 10 of the members parents themselves -- acquitted the Buckeys of 52 counts of molestation after deliberating for nine weeks over evidence that had been presented over the course of more than two years. The jury reported it was deadlocked on 13 remaining counts, and a mistrial was declared on those allegations. Ray Buckey, 31, left the courtroom without comment -- free on his own recognizance until a decision is reached on whether the district attorney will retry him on the 13 undecided counts. But his 63-year-old mother and co-defendant reacted with anger. "I've gone through hell and now we've lost everything," she said outside the court. "My concern was for my son and what they've done to him . . . because my son would never harm a child." Most jurors said later that they believed the children who testified had been molested, but that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Buckeys were culpable. "I am not convinced that he (Ray Buckey) is innocent," said juror Sally Cordova, 27, a supermarket checker. "But it was not proven to me that he did it. Whether I believe he did it and whether it was proven are very different." The end of the case came in a tense and crowded courtroom. The Buckeys, who spent years in jail as the case progressed through the judicial system, had sat silently, staring straight ahead, as the jury filed into the room shortly before 10:30 a.m. and the gallery of reporters and spectators grew quiet in anticipation. "All the verdicts are the same," said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders, handing them to his court clerk. Clerk Stan Ferrell listed the counts numerically and then, reading from the verdict form, delivered in a single, almost anti-climactic sentence the historic trial's close: "We the jury in the above entitled actions find the defendants not guilty." The quiet of the courtroom was split by a few gasps and sobs. At first, the defendants remained stoic, then their eyes began to rim with tears. Ray Buckey's lower lip quivered. His mother dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. They said nothing. Afterward, Peggy McMartin Buckey insisted she was not bitter. "I knew God would set my son and me free because we have done nothing," she said as she was driven away. Her optimism was not matched by her son, however, who she said had "had fear, definitely," about what the jury would decide. "I held his hand," Buckey's mother said after the verdicts were announced, "and I told him: 'I told you, Ray,' and he felt like he wanted to cry but he didn't." The acquittals concluded the longest criminal trial in history, a case that stemmed from a 2 1/2-year-old's report to his mother six years ago that he had been sodomized at his school by a "Mr. Ray." The case ultimately cost taxpayers more than $15 million, altered scores of lives and careers, and provided a national focal point for the issue of child abuse. Judge Pounders said he was not surprised by the verdicts: "I found it difficult to determine how they would view the evidence in the first place. I thought that based on the evidence that was presented, the jury could do almost anything and still find rational support for it. "It is very difficult to test the credibility of children, and when you go beyond that, the natural tendency for adults is to look for corroboration. It was very difficult to find corroboration in this case." Asked if the case was worth its cost in money, lives and stress, Pounders said he thinks society benefited from the case. "People will be much more alert to the possibility of this type of offense taking place at preschool and at schools," Pounders said. "People are no longer dropping their children off and walking away blindly. They look back. They check things out more." In the crowded courthouse hallways, parents of alleged victims lashed out at the prosecutors for bungling the case and insisted that their children had not been well served by the judicial system. "The system doesn't allow us to protect kids," said the father of two alleged victims. "I have no doubt these children were abused. Said a tearful mother: "I guess maybe it's OK to (molest) kids! I can't believe this." The children themselves reacted calmly and stood by their accounts. "We all know that we are telling the truth," said a 15-year-old boy who had testified. "No matter what the jury says, whatever anybody says, this is the truth. We were molested." Another of the children said that, when the clerk read "not guilty" on the verdict form, "my stomach just hollowed out. I was beyond tears. Those words will stick with me probably the rest of my life. I'll never forget those two words." Jurors were critical of the prosecutors' methods. In particular, they cited the prosecution's reliance on videotapes of controversial pretrial interviews of the young witnesses at a Los Angeles child-abuse center. They also criticized the Manhattan Beach Police Department's decision, early in the investigation, to send out form letters to parents announcing an investigation had begun and soliciting information. "The children," said juror John Breese, 51, a biomedical technician, "were never allowed to say in their own words what happened to them. That was crucial." Said jury foreman Luis Chang, an electrical engineer: "The key evidence that swayed me was the interview tapes. They were too biased, too leading. That's the main crux of it." All said they had entered the jury deliberation room with open minds, not only because the judge had so instructed, but also because the disjointed testimony had left them confused. "I went into the jury room as confused and uncertain as I was the day I first sat in the jury box the first day of this trial," said Brenda Williams, 38, a Pacific Bell service representative. "I felt I had missed out on something, maybe I had dozed off during some important testimony and I was hoping some of my fellow jurors had something in their notes that I didn't have in mine that would make it all come together." Said juror Mark Bassett, 33, a computer specialist: "We just didn't really know what happened." Deputy Dist. Atty Lael Rubin, who prosecuted the case, said a decision has not been made about whether to pursue the 13 counts involved in a mistrial. These counts involve 12 molestation charges against Ray Buckey, and a conspiracy count that accused both him and his mother. The conspiracy count against Peggy McMartin Buckey was dismissed outright Thursday. "We ultimately must respect the jury's decision," Rubin said, "even though I personally disagree with it. "The system worked well for them," she said in reference to the Buckeys. "They were lucky. I just hope to God that years from now we don't hear about Ray Buckey molesting children." Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner blamed the criminal justice system for the length of the trial, and said he backs two state court-reform initiatives. "Too much time and too much money has gone into this case. This is insane. The very idea a case can go to trial for 2 1/2 years and there can be a rational result is preposterous. The McMartin case is the very worst example that we have, period. But it does not stand alone." Defense attorneys Dean Gits and Danny Davis were beaming after the verdict announcement. "I feel great," Gits said, indicating he had found hope that the decision would go the defense way last week when the jury informed the judge it was reaching deadlock on a conspiracy count. With the acquittal, Pounders freed more than $3 million worth of property that had been posted by Buckey supporters as bail last year so that he could be released after five years in jail. Buckey's mother had been free on a smaller bail amount earlier after spending nearly two years in jail. The McMartin case -- which included allegations not only of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and other sex crimes, but also of pornographic photography sessions, "naked games," field trips away from the school for illicit purposes, animal mutilation, threats and satanic-like ritual and sacrifice -- began in the fall of 1983. The mother of a 2 1/2-year-old complained to Manhattan Beach police that her son had been sodomized by "Mr. Ray," and subsequent physical examinations indicated he had been sexually abused. Buckey was arrested in September of that year, but was released as the investigation continued and widened to include six other teachers at the Manhattan Beach nursery school, among them his grandmother, dozens of "uncharged suspects," and eight other South Bay nursery schools. The Manhattan Beach Police Department sent a form letter to hundreds of McMartin school parents asking for information, and a wave of hysteria swept through the affluent beach town. Many parents took their youngsters to Children's Institute International, a Los Angeles child-abuse diagnostic and treatment center, for evaluation; the majority were told that their children had been victimized. In March, 1984, Ray Buckey was rearrested, along with his sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, his grandmother, Virginia McMartin, and teachers Betty Raidor, Babette Spitler and Mary Ann Jackson. A county grand jury had indicted them on 115 counts; that indictment was superseded in May by a criminal complaint charging them with 208 counts involving 41 children. The case was hastily filed, and it was flawed from the beginning. Then-Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian, running for reelection, and the media, which caught wind of the investigation, were pressing for action. Children's Institute International, deluged with concerned parents, enlisted untrained therapists to assess the children, resulting in videotaped interviews filled with leading and suggestive questions that would later prove embarrassing to the prosecution and provide the defense with grounds for claiming that the alleged victims had been programmed to believe that they had been molested. Hysteria grew. Hundreds of South Bay children had fallen victim to a nationwide conspiracy and pornography ring, it was alleged, and an angry mob spray-painted "Ray Must Die" on the walls of the nursery school and began digging up an adjacent vacant lot in search of animal remains. The 18-month preliminary hearing, which began in the fall of 1984, was marked by frequent shouting matches between three prosecutors, nine defense attorneys and Municipal Judge Aviva Bobb, and lengthy questioning of child witnesses that lasted in one instance for 16 days. Los Angeles was riveted by the daily images of youngsters clambering atop a booster chair in their Sunday best to face their alleged molesters. They munched cookies, swigged root beer, and sometimes sobbed as they told of their experiences at McMartin. Perhaps the most poignant moment came when an 8-year-old girl told in a wispy voice of having been raped, photographed, tied up and placed in a dark closet by her teachers five years earlier. In the end, Bobb ordered all seven defendants to stand trial on 135 charges, telling each, "The court believes there is sufficient cause to believe you are guilty." The remaining charges had been dropped after only 14 of the scheduled child witnesses came forward to testify. One child was allowed to testify by closed-circuit television, under a new state law passed especially for the McMartin case. But a week later, in January, 1986, the new district attorney, Ira Reiner, who had inherited the case from Philibosian, dropped charges against five of the seven defendants, citing "incredibly weak evidence" and deciding to proceed only against Ray Buckey and his mother. The trial itself began with jury selection in April, 1987. Testimony began in July. The scope of the trial was narrowed again when several parents decided not to allow their children to testify. Eventually nine of 11 named victims took the witness stand, all sticking to their earlier accounts, but for minor inconsistencies. Toddlers at the time of their alleged abuse and now nearing adolescence, they described in graphic detail the abuses they say they suffered at the hands of the Buckeys. Their testimony was often raw and unsettling. The children's allegations were supported by medical evidence testified to by physicians. But both Buckey and his mother also took the stand and staunchly maintained their innocence. And fellow teachers, including former defendants, testified that no improprieties in the small school could have occurred without their knowledge. The prosecution sought to show that the children repeatedly had been abused sexually, but silenced for years by threats, and also that their child-like efforts to tell their parents that something was wrong had been ignored or misinterpreted. The defense contended that nothing untoward happened at the school, but that the children were programmed by therapists to believe that something bad had happened to them. It claimed that their stories defied common sense and that the medical evidence was unreliable and perhaps fabricated. The 6-year-long case was marked by twists and turns and tragedies, prompting the judge to comment that it had "poisoned" everyone it had touched. Day after day, it was punctuated with the unexpected and bizarre: * Ailing family matriarch Virginia McMartin, now 82, wrote poetry, conducted colorful hallway interviews and tested the judge's patience with such outbursts as, "This awful court. These awful people. These awful lies." * Therapist Kee MacFarlane, who conducted many of the interviews in which children first disclosed that they had been molested, came under fire when it was revealed not only that she had minimal previous experience in the field but also that she was involved romantically with the television newsman who broke the story. * Former prosecutor Glenn Stevens became a key defense witness after leaking information that he believed that the defendants were innocent, and signed a movie contract to tell his revised version of events. * A 10-year-old boy, testifying at the preliminary hearing, identified everyone from the city attorney and a movie star to a priest and four nuns as among his molesters, and painted a picture of marching with his classmates to a cemetery where they dug up corpses with shovels and pick-axes. KEY FIGURES IN THE McMARTIN TRIAL THE JUDGE: WILLIAM R. POUNDERS, 50 -- Superior Court judge since 1985. A former state prosecutor who also did appellate work, he was assigned to the case after the litigants rejected three other judges as prejudiced. An intellectual who often uses expressions derived from his Air Force experience building nuclear missiles, Pounders' strengths are meticulous organization and an extensive knowledge of the law, which he augments with a 3-by-5 index card file system, as well as a new computer. A graduate of Loyola Law School, he is widely respected as a fair and thorough judge. THE DEFENDANTS: RAY BUCKEY, 31 -- Key defendant in the McMartin case, Buckey is the grandson of nursery school founder Virginia McMartin and son of co-defendant Peggy McMartin Buckey. A quiet man who is a college dropout and has admitted having problems with drugs and alcohol, Buckey worked briefly at a San Diego child care center before joining his family's enterprise in Manhattan Beach. He was charged on 52 counts of child molestation involving 11 children and one count of conspiracy shared with his mother. He denied all allegations against him. PEGGY MCMARTIN BUCKEY, 63 -- Co-defendant in the McMartin case, she both directed the Virginia McMartin Pre-School and taught there. She also hired her son as a teacher. A talkative, religious woman who drew pictures throughout the tedious proceedings and crocheted during breaks, she was charged on 12 counts of molestation involving four children and one count of conspiracy. She has maintained that neither she nor any member of her staff engaged in improper conduct. THE PROSECUTORS: LAEL R. RUBIN, 47 -- Co-prosecutor. A former high school English teacher, Rubin was a latecomer to the legal profession, graduating from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law in 1978. She quickly distinguished herself after joining the district attorney's office, successfully prosecuting "Black Cathy" Wilson for child pornography, Harry Sassounian for the assassination of the Turkish consul general in Los Angeles, and his brother, Harout Sassounian, for firebombing the Turkish consul general's house. She is the only original prosecutor remaining on the McMartin case. ROGER J. GUNSON, 50 -- Co-prosecutor. A 20-year veteran of the district attorney's office and a graduate of UCLA Law School, the soft-spoken, unassuming Gunson most recently served as head deputy in the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Division. He successfully prosecuted film director Roman Polanski for unlawful sex with a minor, and Susan Brophy, wife of former state assemblyman Bill Brophy, for vehicular manslaughter. THE DEFENSE ATTORNEYS: DANIEL G. DAVIS, 43 -- Defense attorney representing Ray Buckey. A graduate of the University of Texas law school, Davis was a civil attorney with the firm of Lillick McHose &amp; Charles for two years before turning to criminal law. Initially hired by the Buckey family, he was appointed to finish the case after their money ran out. He owns the now-defunct nursery school. DEAN R. GITS, 45 -- Defense attorney representing Peggy McMartin Buckey. A gentlemanly, cum laude graduate of the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Gits describes himself as "a simple country lawyer from Minnesota." Known for his painstakingly thorough work, he was a deputy public defender for nearly nine years before going into private practice with the firm of Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph &amp; Levanas. He has more than 15 years of criminal trial experience. He was court-appointed to the McMartin case at its beginning. McMARTIN TRIAL CHRONOLOGY Aug. 12, 1983 -- Initial complaint filed against Ray Buckey. Sept. 7, 1983 -- Ray Buckey arrested and released. March 22, 1984 -- Buckey and six others, including his sister, mother and grandmother, are indicted on 115 counts of child molestation and conspiracy. May 23, 1984 -- District attorney's office files 208-count complaint that supersedes indictment. June 8, 1984 -- Preliminary hearing for Ray Buckey begins. Aug. 17, 1984 -- Consolidated preliminary hearing for seven defendants begins. October, 1984 -- Sheriff's task force is created to investigate "uncharged McMartin suspects" and other South Bay nursery schools. Jan. 9, 1986 -- Municipal Court Judge Aviva Bobb orders all seven defendants to stand trial. Jan. 17, 1986 -- District Atty. Ira Reiner drops charges against five of the seven defendants. Dec. 19, 1986 -- Mother whose allegations triggered investigation is found dead in her home. April 20, 1987 -- Jury selection begins. July 13, 1987 -- Trial of Ray Buckey and Peggy McMartin Buckey gets under way with opening statements, followed by presentation of prosecution's case. Oct. 19, 1988 -- Defense begins presentation of its case. Oct. 12, 1989 -- Final arguments begin. Nov. 2, 1989 -- Case goes to the jury. Nov. 29, 1989 -- First verdict returned, kept under seal. Jan. 11, 1990 -- Fifty-second verdict returned. Jan. 17, 1990 -- Jury deadlocks on remaining 13 counts. Jan. 18, 1990 -- Verdicts announced. 
 Though the historic McMartin Pre-School criminal trial finally has ended in acquittals, a host of civil lawsuits generated by the Manhattan Beach molestation case conceivably could keep the issue alive in the courts for decades, legal experts say. A confusing array of civil actions await resolution. These include a federal civil rights suit filed Friday by Peggy McMartin Buckey against her accusers and others; a lawsuit filed by former defendants against a television station and reporter and suits the pre-school owners have filed against their liability insurance carriers. Also, Ray Buckey might file a federal suit similar to that of his mother, said his attorney, Scott Bernstein. And an attorney representing several parents of McMartin attendees said they might now refile lawsuits against the pre-school for emotional distress allegedly suffered by the children. "I'm convinced this case will never end," Eli Gauna, who represents Babette Spitler, a former teacher at the school, said wearily. "It will always be there, until everyone who was ever involved gets to old age or dies." In the criminal case -- the longest and costliest criminal proceeding in U.S. history -- Ray Buckey, 31, and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey, 63, were acquitted Thursday of 52 counts of molestation involving 11 youngsters who attended the family nursery school in Manhattan Beach. The jury deadlocked on 13 remaining counts, and a mistrial was declared on those allegations. A decision is expected next week over whether those charges will be refiled against Ray Buckey. The verdict was a high mark, but not the final moment, in a lengthy and entangled legal saga. The criminal case began in March, 1984, when seven McMartin teachers were indicted by a county grand jury on 115 counts of molestation. The indictment was superseded by a criminal complaint of 208 counts of molestation and conspiracy. After an 18-month preliminary hearing, all seven were ordered to stand trial. Defendants included Buckey; his mother; his grandmother, Virginia McMartin, who was the school founder; his sister Peggy Ann Buckey; and teachers Spitler, Betty Raidor and Mary Ann Jackson. But a week after the hearing ended, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner dropped charges against the latter five defendants citing "incredibly weak evidence." Even before the criminal case went to trial, civil litigation already was in the works. In 1984, a handful of lawsuits were filed by 22 families seeking monetary damages against the school for medical bills, cost of psychiatric therapy and emotional distress arising from the alleged molestations. But those lawsuits later were withdrawn to prevent the children's psychiatric histories from being introduced as evidence in the criminal case. Greg Mooney, an attorney who represented some of the plaintiffs, explained that during the criminal preliminary hearing, defense attorneys had sought psychiatric records of the alleged victims. Defense attorneys argued that they should be entitled to the records because the children had waived their patient-therapist confidentiality by filing civil suits in which their psychiatric histories would be at issue. "The civil suits were withdrawn so they would not become an issue in the criminal case," Mooney said. He said Friday, however, that the civil lawsuits can now be refiled. Mooney said a decision on whether to refile will be made only after authorities decide what to do with the 13 remaining criminal counts. "It's impossible to predict how many parents will want to sue," Mooney said. "Somewhere between a handful and a bushelful." Any new suits would have to be filed only on behalf of the children. The parents could not seek damages on their own, because the one-year statute of limitations -- the deadline in which a lawsuit can be filed -- has passed. Under state law, children who allege abuse have until they are 19 years old to file. Many of the children who attended McMartin are now entering their early teens, but the youngest of those who attended the school then is now 8 years old. Legal experts, however, say some courts have held that child abuse victims can file at any time in their life. In the so-called delayed-discovery theory, a statute of limitations does not take effect until the victim actually becomes aware of molestation, and some victims might suppress memories of such attacks for years. "It's a possibility that hangs over the former defendants," said attorney Gauna, noting a recent landmark California court decision that set aside the statute of limitations for certain victims. Mooney said he knows of families that, seeking legal advantage, waited for the criminal trial to end before contemplating civil action. He explained that some families believed they might have a better advantage in civil court rather than in a criminal case: the burden of proof in civil litigation is the preponderance of the evidence, not reasonable doubt, as in a criminal trial. Also, in a civil case, only nine of the 12 jurors must agree on a verdict. Criminal convictions require unanimous juries. Whether the families would be willing to tackle more years of legal proceedings is yet to be seen. And some families question whether the McMartin defendants' insurance carriers would pay out to plaintiffs who successfully sued the school. "There hasn't been any decisions yet. The parents need a little space between the events of this week and deciding what they will do," Mooney said. "There is some sentiment that says, 'Let's just put this behind us.' But there is also sentiment among others that maybe they should pick up the civil case where the criminal case left off. "They heard the jurors when they said they believed that things happened to the children. They think maybe since the criminal jury couldn't get the higher standard of proof, a civil jury would bring about a resolution." Said one McMartin attendee's parent, who asked not to be identified: "I might be tempted to file a civil suit to provide a trust fund for my child. But there apparently isn't any money there to be had." The only other reasons for filing such a suit, the parent added, would be "to work through a lot of emotional things, and we have already done that by participating in the criminal proceedings." Gauna, Spitler's attorney, said the litigation will go on because "maybe a half-dozen to a dozen hard-line parents won't let it go away. They will live this case until the day they die." Meanwhile, already wending its way through court is a lawsuit filed by the early defendants. Peggy Ann Buckey, Virginia McMartin, Spitler and Raidor are suing the television station, the reporter who broke the McMartin story and others. The suit alleges that the station and reporter, Wayne Satz, were "creating rather than reporting the news." A lower court held that the station, KABC, was protected from the action on constitutional grounds, but a state appellate court ruled the case should proceed to trial, and the state Supreme Court upheld that decision. The case, now in the early pretrial stages, is being watched closely, because it could set precedent in the field of press law, experts said. Another suit pits former McMartin defendants and the pre-school against their liability insurance carriers. The McMartin side alleges that the insurance carriers were required by the policy to pay for their attorney bills. While the insurers have paid a portion of the defense costs, they contend the defendants should have used only one attorney. However, the defendants are arguing that because of possible conflicts of interest, each needed their own counsel. One of the former defendants, preschool teacher Maryann Jackson, settled out of court. As it becomes apparent that McMartin cases will stretch out for years to come, parents and the former criminal defendants alike are trying to resign themselves to the inevitability that the matter may be one they can never leave behind. Soon, some of the children will be able to make their own legal decisions. Noted one parent: "It's really not our decision as parents anymore. These children will soon be adults." 
 In a major rebuff to the Soviet Union's scientific establishment, Soviet physicists Friday nominated Nobel laureate Andrei D. Sakharov to run as a candidate in nationwide parliamentary elections scheduled for March. The overwhelming vote in favor of the 67-year-old human-rights advocate by his colleagues at Moscow's leading physics institute came only two days after his candidacy was rejected by the governing board of the Academy of Sciences. The attempt to prevent Sakharov from running for a revamped Soviet Parliament has outraged Soviet intellectuals. During a marathon session that ended late Wednesday, the governing board of the Academy of Sciences selected 23 scientists as candidates to fill 25 specially reserved seats in the new Congress of People's Deputies. Sakharov and several other leading reformers, including the former director of the Soviet space institute, Roald Sagdeyev, failed to win nomination. Sakharov Supported During secret balloting Friday at the prestigious Lebedev Institute, the physicists supported Sakharov's candidacy by a vote of 1,543 to 22. The outcome was more an expression of respect for Sakharov as a man who stuck by his principles during difficult times than a specific endorsement of all his political views. Sakharov, however, used the occasion to outline his hopes for a multiparty system, public control over the KGB security police, and the convergence of communism and capitalism. Although Sakharov has publicly expressed his support for President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, in recent months he seems to have become increasingly concerned about the slow and uneven pace of reform. In a question-and-answer session with physicists, he described the political situation in the Soviet Union as "extremely complicated." 'Far From Delighted' "I am far from being delighted about all the things that have happened in our country over the last year. In many ways, our domestic policies have either been indecisive or incorrect," he said. Sakharov, who acted as an unofficial Kremlin envoy to the troubled Transcaucasian region last month, said he was particularly dismayed by a government crackdown against leading Armenian nationalists. He called for the release from prison of members of the outlawed Karabakh Committee, which has been campaigning for the secession of the largely Armenian-inhabited region of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan. The 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner outlined a detailed political program which, if implemented, would totally transform the Soviet Union. He called for total freedom of movement and association. Although Sakharov has now been nominated as a candidate from the October electoral district of Moscow, it is by no means certain that his name will appear on the March 26 ballot. Under the complicated voting procedures, it is still possible to strike down his candidacy during the so-called "pre-electoral campaign" if more than two candidates have been nominated. 
 Incense burned and Buddhist monks in saffron-colored robes chanted prayers of mourning Friday as the immigrant families of children slain in this week's schoolyard massacre were joined by scores of other members of Stockton's Asian community in vigils of grief. City officials readied the city's Civic Auditorium for a Monday memorial ceremony for the families and friends of a Vietnamese student and four Cambodian pupils gunned down in the playground at Cleveland Elementary School Tuesday by armed drifter Patrick Edward Purdy, who killed himself with a single pistol shot to the head. A separate funeral for 6-year-old Thuy Tran, the Vietnamese student killed in the shooting spree, will be held today. Vu-Duc Vuong, executive director of the city's Center for Southeast Asian Resettlement, said citizens throughout California will be asked to take part Monday in a five-minute period of silence starting at 11:45 a.m. "Five minutes for five children who are dead," Vuong said. Conditions Improved Fourteen of the 29 students injured in the attack remained in hospitals Friday, but in almost all cases, their conditions were reported improved. One teacher was also wounded and remains hospitalized. Buddhist priests led prayers at the homes of three Cambodian families Friday in mourning ceremonies that last three days and three nights. More than 100 people gathered at the Village Oak apartments, where the families of two victims, 8-year-old Ram Chun and 6-year-old Sokhim An, live. Neighbors provided the five robed monks with incense, rice and money during their vigil. But a similar vigil at the home of a third victim, Rathanan Or, 9, was marred by a bitter reunion between the dead boy's parents. Kim Ly, 40, a Cambodian refugee from Ohio who recognized his son's face among televised pictures of children slain in the mass shooting spree, met for the first time since 1979 with family members grieving for his son. Watching News Ly said he was watching a news report about the massacre Tuesday morning in which five children and the gunman were killed when he spotted the picture of a 9-year-old victim he recognized as his lost son. In a telephone call later that day, a Stockton official verified that "my son had been killed at school." "I almost passed out," Ly said. Now remarried with a 2-year-old son, Ly flew alone to Stockton on Thursday, where he was reunited with In Or, 36, Rathanan's mother and Ly's former wife. Ly insisted that Or knew of his existence in Ohio. Or had told reporters after Tuesday's shooting that her husband was reported killed in a firefight in Cambodia a decade ago. Or said Friday that she had no idea Ly had survived, and she complained that Ly had not been in touch with her or her children since he arrived in the United States. "He never introduced himself as the father of my boy until he was dead," Or said. "If he loved the kids, why didn't he come to support his child?" Ly said he had been in touch with his former family by sending money. He also said that soon after he had emigrated to Ohio, he learned that his wife and children were living in Stockton and tried unsuccessfully to visit them. "When I learned they were alive, I flew out here, but she didn't meet me," Ly said. Ly, who had been a captain in the Cambodian army, said that he became separated from Or, then three months pregnant with Rathanan, when the country was occupied by Khmer Rouge guerrillas. He said he made his way to Thailand and came to the United States in 1980, settling in Canton, Ohio, where he has worked since as a cook in a German-American club. When he first arrived, thinking his family had perished, Ly said he remarried. He said that Or has been angry with him since she learned that he was alive and had a new wife. The families of the five victims are being aided by funds provided by the San Joaquin County Victim/Witness Assistance Program. The state-supported agency will provide up to $2,800 for each funeral and up to $46,000 for hospital and counseling expenses for victims and relatives, said Diane Beatrice, a spokeswoman for the county district attorney's office. Beatrice added that "thousands and thousands of dollars" have been donated to the Cleveland School Memorial Fund, a program set up to help the families of the victims. Meanwhile, Gov. George Deukmejian, in an unusual letter to Atty. Gen John K. Van de Kamp, asked Friday for a complete report on Purdy's criminal record and detailed information about his weapons purchases. A spokesman for Van de Kamp said the attorney general will cooperate fully with the governor and provide him with whatever information he requests. Kevin Brett, the governor's press secretary, said in Sacramento that Deukmejian is seeking the information to help him assess various legislative proposals stemming from the shooting, including a proposed ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, such as the AK-47 that Purdy used. "The deaths of five children and the injury of 30 others, all victims of a wanton and senseless act by a person who had a criminal record, raises a number of questions," Deukmejian said in his letter to the attorney general. Purdy was buried Friday in Lodi, a family spokesman said. Sahagun reported from Stockton and Braun from Los Angeles. Staff writer Richard C. Paddock in Sacramento also contributed to the article. 
 Geraldo Rivera was interviewing Peggy Ann Buckey on TV. Abby Mann watched, listened -- and saw the makings of a movie. Prosecutors had just dropped charges of child molestation against Buckey, one of the original seven defendants in the McMartin Pre-School case. In that 1986 interview, Peggy Buckey was "quite eloquent" in arguing that charges against her brother, Ray, and mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, should be dropped as well, Mann recalled Friday. Mann, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer, recognized a theme he had tapped before: the hysteria of a witch hunt. Soon, Mann became a controversial figure in the case itself -- but he got the inside track on movie and book deals. And Thursday's not-guilty verdicts in Ray and Peggy McMartin Buckey's trial gave Mann the happy ending he was hoping for -- happy, at least, from his point of view. But Mann and his wife, Myra, who have an 800-page manuscript in the works for Random House and say they are close to finishing a screenplay, aren't expected to monopolize the telling of the 6-year-old McMartin case -- or the perspective. At least two other books are planned, and at least one prominent television movie producer besides Mann says he is developing a McMartin project. That producer, who requested anonymity, said he is certain other producers are considering projects as well. "It's definitely a TV thing," one agent said. "Just one of those perfect, high-concept, lurid television M-O-Ws" -- an acronym for movies-of-the-week. "The producer chases down participants, gets rights -- and then it's an easy sale to networks." Not that easy, network executives say. Unlike the hottest true-life property of the moment -- the Stuart murder case in Boston, which has CBS and The Fries Co. racing to produce the first docudrama -- McMartin creates some tricky legal and moral problems. The jury's deadlock on 13 counts creates an ambiguity: Is Ray Buckey a villain or a victim? "None of the three networks would touch Ray Buckey's story," predicted Steven White, an independent producer who used to be a movie executive for both NBC and ABC. "First, the man is still accused of 13 crimes. . . . If I were sitting in my old job, I wouldn't touch this thing with a 10-foot pole." "It raises so many legal and ethical questions at this point it would have to be looked at with a microscope," said Larry Strichman, a senior executive in movie development at CBS. "What is the story you want to tell? Is it a story of justice done or justice denied? And it's real unclear at the moment what the answer to that question is. Unlike a documentary, it's hard to take an ambiguous position in a docudrama." Producers think network qualms can be overcome, however. One pointed out that the Billionaire Boys Club docudrama was broadcast before all the trials regarding the slayings were over. "There are no rules," the producer said. Hollywood's role in the McMartin case came to prominence early. Not long after the first allegations of child molestation six years ago, several producers pitched projects to networks. Though no explicit McMartin story was produced, child abuse and molestation was a recurring subject. One CBS fictional movie last year -- "Did You Know the Muffin Man?" -- featured a preschool and satanic child molesters. Mann, whose writing credits include the Academy Award-winning "Judgment at Nuremberg" in 1961, won an Emmy for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders," a three-hour "Kojak" drama based on a true case in which a black youth was wrongly convicted of the killings of two white women. The prosecutors, the media and the community seemed blinded by hysteria, Mann said. Gaining the confidence of the McMartin defendants, the Manns were ultimately hired as "investigators" by the defense. That and their earlier alliance with former prosecutor Glenn Stevens sparked charges from parents of alleged child molestation victims of a conspiracy to obstruct justice for monetary gain. Stevens, who said he had asked to be removed from the McMartin trial team in October, 1985, said he and Mann agreed in March, 1986, to produce a book and movie about the case with the understanding that their discussions would become public after the trial and appeals were over. But in late 1986, Mann released interviews with Stevens in which Stevens said he doubted the defendants' guilt. Mann said his attorneys had advised him that to withhold them would be an obstruction of justice. Outraged parents suggested the real aim was a not-guilty verdict, which would improve the value of Mann's movie deal. But Stevens and the Manns have said their ambition from the start has been to get the truth out. At least two other perspectives may reach the bookstores. Ray Buckey's lawyer, Danny Davis, and writer Gordon Dillow, former columnist for the defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, have a book proposal that is being pitched to a variety of publishers. Times staff writer Lois Timnick, who covered the case from its early stages through the trial, also is planning a book. Mann said his script isn't a courtroom drama. "It's not a trial movie. It's what happens to human beings. I intend to be fair to the parents. I don't mean to be vindicative. . . . For the most part, I have great sympathy for the parents." 
 The death of Emperor Hirohito finished the list of political and military leaders of the World War II era, one of the darkest and bloodiest eras of history on either the European or Asian continents. The political and military role that Emperor Hirohito played before and during the war was never clear to us. He may not have had that kind of influence now, but before the war he was regarded as god and was worshiped in Japan with religious vigor. At the surrender of the Imperial Japanese government, Hirohito was spared punishment because "it was his ambitious military generals who made the decision to invade the neighbors." I found it is very hard to believe that a man in his middle age, in his position, in his culture and in his country at that time had nothing much to do with all the military aggravations that his armies imposed on neighboring countries. Of course, some Japanese military leaders were executed after the war for criminal acts they were responsible for. I often wonder if Hirohito ever felt grateful to those generals who were sacrificed, in part, so that he could live for another 43 years. I only wish that the soul of Emperor Hirohito be ready to face the ultimate justice when he meets with the waiting souls of millions of innocent men, women and children who were tortured and murdered in his name during the war. STEVE T. HU Cerritos 
 A Hermosa Beach minister who for years has tried in vain to quell rumors tying his church to the McMartin Pre-School scandal announced Sunday that the "extreme stress" of fallout from the case has forced him to seek disability retirement. The Rev. John D. Eales of St. Cross Episcopal Church -- where McMartin pupils claimed they had been forced to take part in satanic rituals -- told the congregation during his sermon that, "after much prayer and consultation," he realized his health could not withstand the continuing harassment and vandalization the church has borne as a result of the unsubstantiated claims. The McMartin case, which prompted the longest and most expensive criminal trial in U.S. history, ended Thursday with the acquittal of defendants Ray Buckey and Peggy McMartin Buckey on a total of 52 counts of child molestation at the Manhattan Beach school. The jurors deadlocked on 13 other counts. Nonetheless, the case continues to divide and haunt the South Bay communities where it was centered. St. Cross was never named as a defendant in the case and neither Eales nor any other official of the venerable seaside church was ever formally charged. But since 1985, the church has struggled to shake a McMartin pupil's allegation during the preliminary hearing that, six years earlier, he and other students had been forced to witness animal sacrifices and satanic rituals at the altar of St. Cross. When the then-10-year-old boy's allegation was reported in the local media, other children claimed that they too had been abused at the church. Though investigators using sophisticated equipment checked the altar and found no trace of blood, attendance dropped drastically at the church and the church-run preschool, which closed soon afterward. The allegations never died, despite the passage of time and the announcement by Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators that they had found no evidence to support the children's claims. Periodically over the years, Eales said, he would receive threatening phone calls at the church and rectory, and the harassment increased as the McMartin case began to wind down. Twice in December, the church and rectory were pelted with bottles and rotten eggs. In a note left in the rectory driveway after the second attack, the vandals, who identified themselves as "the Beach Cities' Conscience," warned that "there is simply no place for Satan worship in this town." The harassment was exacerbated by the arrest shortly after Christmas of a youth counselor at the church, who was charged with molesting two teen-age boys he had met through his work at St. Cross. The counselor, it turned out, was a convicted child molester who had been brought into the fold about a year and a half earlier by an assistant pastor who was hired after the McMartin case broke. Then, just days after that assistant pastor resigned, the McMartin verdict came down, and, according to several church members, the anonymous phone calls returned. "It's kind of like a violin string -- you can only tighten it so far and then it snaps," Eales said Sunday. Though at 61 Eales has 11 more years until the diocese would mandate his retirement, he said his doctors told him that "the kind of stress you have been under kills." Because of that, he said, he plans to extend a medical leave already scheduled to allow for some minor surgery next week and retire a year short of the 10-year tenure that was his goal when he came to St. Cross. His decision shocked and saddened parishioners, who credited Eales with shepherding the church through difficult times. Said Ron Russell, a 16-year member of the congregation: "We brought a good, strong man in here, and -- well, this has ruined him." 
 Super Bowl XXIV was the most watched television event of the week, viewed by a whopping 63% of TV viewers, but not even Joe Montana could lift CBS out of the cellar in the ratings race, it was reported today. CBS estimates that 109 million viewers saw all or part of the game, down only 2 million from last year despite the fact that this year's match was a blowout. On the upside for CBS -- Super Bowl XXIV carried enough of its audience over to the debut of the new series, "Grand Slam," to provide a good audience sampling and give the action show a ranking of 15th for the night. It was CBS' bad luck that the game was so predictably lopsided, which resulted in the lowest rating since Super Bowl III in 1969. Each rating point in 1990, however, represents many more households than it did two decades ago. Technically, Super Bowl IV in 1970 out-rated Super Bowl XXIV, 39.4 to 39.0. But last Sunday's game had almost twice as many viewers as the estimated 59.19 million who watched Kansas City beat Minnesota 20 years ago. This also marks only the third time that the network airing the Super Bowl did not win the week -- NBC managed it in 1979 and 1981. It also is only the second time the Super Bowl network was third for the week -- dating back to NBC in 1979. The Broncos were not to blame for all of CBS' troubles last week. The network tried some stunting, most of which did not work. On Monday it ran a popular theatrical movie, "Cocoon," which tied for 54th. The big winner was the American Music Awards on ABC, which came in 10th for the week. TOP 10 SHOWS Here are the ratings for national prime-time television for Jan. 22-28, as compiled by the A. C. Nielsen Co. Program (Network): Rating 1. Super Bowl XXIV (CBS): 39.0 2. Super Bowl Postgame (CBS): 25.3 3. The Cosby Show (NBC): 25.0 4. Cheers (NBC): 25.0 5. Roseanne (ABC): 24.5 6. A Different World (NBC): 22.4 7. The Golden Girls (NBC): 21.7 8. Empty Nest (NBC): 20.5 9. The Wonder Years (ABC): 20.4 10. Amer. Music Awards (ABC): 20.0 
 In the first eruption of controversy at a confirmation hearing for a Bush Administration Cabinet nominee, a prominent conservative told a Senate panel Tuesday that John Tower may lack the "moral character" to be secretary of defense. "Over the course of many years, I have encountered the nominee in a condition -- lack of sobriety -- as well as with women to whom he was not married," conservative activist Paul M. Weyrich told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I encountered it frequently enough to the point where it made an impression," he added. Criticism from Weyrich and other witnesses prompted some committee members to temper the panel's earlier praise for the former Texas senator. But several members conceded that, while their former colleague may not be the ideal candidate for the Pentagon's top job, he probably will win Senate approval anyway. "We've had a surplus of rumors concerning the nominee, and a shortage of witnesses with personal testimony and personal knowledge," said committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.). Weyrich, president of the conservative Free Congress Foundation, testified that Tower's behavior makes him unfit to lead the Pentagon into an era of belt-tightening and management reform. In an extraordinary challenge to Tower's nomination, Weyrich also suggested that Tower's moral shortcomings could make him vulnerable to attempts by foreign governments "to bring pressure on the United States government and on him personally. "It is unrealistic to expect moral behavior in matters of public trust from someone who does not exhibit such behavior in his personal life," Weyrich said. "Private morals have public effects." Tower, 63 and twice-divorced, served 24 years in the Senate from Texas, including a tenure as chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1981 to 1984. He has been dogged by reports that he is a hard-drinker and a womanizer and that his hawkish views on defense do not square with the budgetary austerity that the Pentagon faces. In announcing Tower as his choice for the post on Dec. 16, President Bush called the talk "a lot of rumors that proved to be groundless." Saying that "Nixon went to China," Bush added that Tower's record of support for Pentagon spending hikes could be overturned. But Weyrich's attack raised anew the issue of Tower's fitness for the job, after two days of testimony last week in which Tower won broad praise from committee members. Ties to Contractors Fulbright Institute scholar William C. Jackson Jr. and William G. Phillips, president of the Washington-based National Council for Industrial Defense, joined Weyrich Tuesday in opposing Tower's nomination. Phillips echoed Jackson's complaint that Tower's lucrative ties to defense contractors and past support for big defense budgets raise "serious doubts that John Tower is the best man for the job . . . at this time in our history." A leading committee Democrat acknowledged this point. "I . . . wondered why the President of the United States chose John Tower for this job, given the emphasis that he has placed on ethics and the appearance of wrongdoing," said Nebraska Sen. James J. Exon. "But the facts of the matter are that he has." Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), in clarifying the grounds on which Senate committees may assess presidential nominees, told witnesses that "it is not a function of the Senate to say that this individual, this nominee, is the best man qualified." Weyrich also told the committee that President Bush's transition team "received hundreds of letters" opposing Tower's nomination, some of which "contain specific allegations of moral impropriety on the part of Mr. Tower." In a closed session of the committee, Weyrich was unable to add to his own observations with more than hearsay, according to Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.). Weyrich also acknowledged that he had no personal knowledge of the existence or content of the letters. But the allegation, reviewed in advance by the committee, prompted Nunn and Warner, the panel's ranking minority member, to write White House counsel C. Boyden Gray asking whether the allegations were investigated by the FBI and addressed in the bureau's report to the committee. Wallop, a Tower supporter and a leading Senate conservative, termed it "troublesome" that "innuendoes have been made, the insinuations are on the table, but the cameras do not record the fact that they are unsustainable." In open testimony, Weyrich also reflected widespread concerns among conservative activists that Tower is not committed to the Pentagon's "Star Wars" missile defense program. "He considers SDI (the Strategic Defense Initiative) a bargaining chip," Weyrich said. "We don't." The panel hopes to complete its deliberations by the end of this week, Nunn said, and expects to meet once more today to consider Tower's nomination. 
 When the doors swung open Wednesday at the first McDonald's restaurant in the Soviet Union, thousands of Muscovites poured in to sip "milk cocktails" and taste their first "Beeg Mak Gamburgers," picking them apart to marvel at the fixin's. Some expressed wonder at the speedy service -- "only an hour in line" -- while others heralded the event as the first evidence that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's economic reforms are finally filtering down to the average Muscovite. Although cynics might complain of the steady homogenizing of world cultures, the arrival of the fast-food chain here -- 14 years after a Canadian McDonald's official broached the idea with Soviet officials at the 1976 Montreal Olympics -- was without doubt a major event. Most customers seemed thrilled to be part of it, even though some of them gave the Big Mac sandwich a mixed review. "It tasted very, I would say, unusual," Lubov Sereda, 45, said with a smile. "Everything was very soft and mild." "But those strawberry milk cocktails, well. . . ," her husband put in, flashing a thumbs-up sign. "It was very interesting, that gamburger," Zvetlana Generotova, 25, said, leaving with a large paper bag filled with take-out food, also a new concept here. "I certainly want my family to try it, at least once." Russians say "gamburger" because they pronounce Western words that begin with "h" as though they begin with "g." Another customer, Victor Kunyasev, said: "Well, my wife makes better food. But it was nice, a good place to take a break and grab a bite to eat." Some reported waiting up to 1 hour and 45 minutes to be served, but most did not seem to mind. In honor of the grand opening, a brigade of workers distributed McDonald's flags and pins; entertainers performed on the accordion and sang folk songs under golden arches adorned with the Soviet hammer and sickle. The world's largest McDonald's, with 27 cash registers and a seating capacity of 900, brings to Moscow not only hamburgers, french fries and shakes (called "milk cocktails" here), but also a living lesson in Western-style marketing. At training sessions before opening day, cashiers were taught the importance of greeting customers cheerfully, of saying "please" and "thank you" -- all of which promises something distinctly different from the typically surly service at most of Moscow's dingy state cafes. "This is very different from anything I've ever done before," cashier Larissa Lebedeva said. Lebedeva, 25, who formerly worked as deputy director of a small food store, said that "to be this polite and to have everything this clean is new for the workers as well as for the customers." Sam Yahel, from McDonald's in Atlanta, who helped train the 630 Soviet workers, said the Soviet trainees were at a disadvantage because in most other parts of the world, new workers had at least eaten at one of the restaurants. Most of the Soviet workers had never tasted a Western-style hamburger. They practiced cooking using yellow cardboard squares in place of cheese and different colored poker chips in place of onions, tomatoes and pickles. "The Soviet Union is definitely a different world," Yahel said. "Our food and our standards -- it's all new. For example, we had to teach our employees that when there were still crumbs on the counter, it needed to be wiped off again." While most of the Soviet workers trained for a matter of days, the four Soviet managers of the restaurant spent nine months abroad learning their jobs. They graduated from the Canadian Institute of Hamburgerology. The Moscow McDonald's will be open for 12 hours a day beginning at 10 a.m. and will be able, they say, to serve more than 15,000 customers a day. On Wednesday, though, it stayed open an extra two hours and served a McDonald's record 30,000 meals. The previous record for opening-day transactions was 9,100 in Budapest, Hungary, and the previous record sales for a single day was 14,000 in Hong Kong. There is a brass plaque near the entrance that announces, "Soviet Rubles Only." Virtually every other foreign firm that has come into the Soviet Union in recent years accepts only hard currencies, meaning that it caters primarily to foreigners. The McDonald's prices are high compared to the state restaurants, where a large meal seldom costs more than a ruble. The Big Mac costs 3.75 rubles, or about $5 at the official exchange rate, and dinner out for the family can come to two days' wages for the average Soviet worker. McDonald's employees are paid 1.50 rubles an hour, with a chance for an increase of up to 50 kopecks in three months' time. The staff was chosen from 25,000 applicants. Canadian and American officials who have helped train the Soviet personnel know that the allure of working for a Western firm was a drawing factor, but they nonetheless expect a 20% turnover rate, twice their normal average. McDonald's invested $50 million in setting up the restaurant and a food processing plant in a Moscow suburb that turns out everything from meat patties to sesame-seed buns. Soviet farmers, who are supplying most of the products, have been given special training and disease-resistant seed for potatoes and cucumbers. The extra effort was necessary to guarantee supplies in a country where as much as 25% of the harvest spoils on the way to the consumer. Despite all of the planning, some shortages still affect the operation. Coffee is not on the menu, for example, because supplies cannot be guaranteed. The joint venture agreement between McDonald's of Canada and the Moscow City Council calls for 20 restaurants, though there is no timetable or even a definite plan for when or where the second McDonald's will open. Is there any fear that when the golden arches become as common as the cupolas of Russian Orthodox churches, it will be a sign that capitalism is making real inroads in the Communist capital? McDonald's officials say it is not a question that worries them or their Soviet counterparts. "There weren't many ideological discussions during these negotiations," said Marc Winer, 43, a native of Nashua, N.H., who is general director of the Moscow outlet. "The Soviets understood that the food was going to move very efficiently from the field to the mouth. That is more important to them right now than almost anything else." 
 President Bush, filling a key overseas post, has decided to nominate a former CIA officer as ambassador to China, sources said Wednesday. The choice is James R. Lilley, a career intelligence officer who served as CIA station chief in China when Bush headed the U.S. liaison office there in 1974-75. Word of the expected nomination came as Bush's choice to be assistant secretary of state for Latin America, Democratic political consultant Bernard Aronson, ran into objections from several Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, congressional aides said. The two senior Republicans on the panel, Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), both expressed concern about Aronson's appointment to Secretary of State James A. Baker III, the aides said. May Face Tough Questioning They said that it appears unlikely the senators would attempt to block Aronson's nomination but said that the former Jimmy Carter aide will face tough questioning in his confirmation hearings. Lilley, 60, was born in China, the son of an American oilman working there. He has also served on the National Security Council staff, as head of the unofficial U.S. office in Taiwan and as a deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia. He will replace Winston Lord, who has headed the American Embassy in Beijing since 1985. For the last three years, Lilley served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea. In that job, he was the principal American contact with South Korean leaders during the turbulent period when former President Chun Doo Hwan resigned and the current president, Roh Tae Woo, won a bitterly contested election. Returns to Washington Lilley left Seoul last month and returned to Washington, hoping to be appointed as assistant secretary of state in charge of U.S. policy in East Asia and the Pacific, sources said. However, he failed to get that job, in part because newly appointed Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger opposed him, the sources said. Eagleburger was said to have been promoting two other candidates -- Lord and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Nicholas Platt -- for the Asian post. Eagleburger and Lord served together as aides to former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. 
 President Bush has decided to nominate John D. Negroponte, a veteran diplomat who helped direct U.S. aid to Nicaraguan rebels, to the key position of ambassador to Mexico, Administration officials said Thursday. Negroponte, a 28-year Foreign Service veteran, served as U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 through 1985, when the CIA was secretly funding the Contras. Mexico's leftist opposition party already has criticized the appointment, which has not been formally announced. But Bush Administration officials said they are confident that the Mexican government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari will accept the nomination. Can Reject Nomination Under diplomatic practice, the White House notifies other governments in advance of its choices for ambassadors. The foreign government can reject the nomination, but rejection would be considered an unusual diplomatic slap. Meanwhile, Bush's choice as assistant secretary of state for Latin America, Democratic political consultant Bernard Aronson, ran into objections from several Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, congressional aides said. The two senior Republicans on the panel, Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), both expressed concern about Aronson's appointment to Secretary of State James A. Baker III, the aides said. Helms questioned the appointment of a Democrat to the post, and Lugar expressed concern that Aronson had no experience with the economic issues facing South America, they said. The aides said it appears unlikely that the senators will attempt to block Aronson's nomination but that the former aide to President Jimmy Carter will face tough questioning in his confirmation hearings. Negroponte created controversy in Honduras as a vigorous proponent of the then-secret Contra effort; and Honduran opposition leaders, who said he acted as though he were the governor of a colony, dubbed him Washington's "proconsul" in the country. But he later concluded that it had been a mistake for the Ronald Reagan Administration to aid the rebels secretly without building more public support for its policy in Central America, associates said. Negroponte was most recently a deputy to Lt. Gen. Colin L. Powell, President Reagan's last national security adviser, and had been an aide to Henry A. Kissinger, then national security adviser to President Richard M. Nixon, during the Vietnam war in 1970-73. He has also worked on negotiations with Mexico on environmental and tuna-fishing issues. "He's one of the smartest operators in the business," a former aide said. "He's very good at working the bureaucracy." State Department officials said that they had expected Mexican leftists to register complaints about the appointment because of Negroponte's support of the Contras but that they are confident that Salinas' government will not object formally. "They will blow a little steam off in the press, but I don't think the Mexican government would dream of rejecting him," one official said. "They don't want to get relations with the Bush Administration off on that footing." Negroponte, 49, will succeed Charles Pilliod, an Ohio industrialist. Staff writer Marjorie Miller in Mexico City contributed to this story. 
 In its renewed investigation of defense secretary nominee John Tower, the FBI is checking allegations that Tower was recently involved in an episode of public drunkenness, sources said Friday -- allegations that call into question his insistence that he has no current drinking problem. Tower testified in confirmation hearings earlier this week that his problems with alcohol are behind him. But a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, who asked not to be identified, said Friday that the new allegation, if true, suggests that the former Texas senator's drinking problem "may be ongoing" and that his confirmation remains in doubt. The charge received Wednesday by the committee was very specific, giving the date and place of the alleged incident, and was made by an informant who identified herself, a knowledgeable source said. The episode allegedly occurred within the last year at the Monocle, a Capitol Hill restaurant frequented by lawmakers, lobbyists and congressional aides. Two other allegations under scrutiny by the FBI's special inquiries unit, which is working around the clock this weekend on the Tower matter, involve assertions of another incident of public intoxication and of a recent affair with an unidentified Dallas woman. If the new charges should be verified by the FBI, Tower's nomination is doomed, an authoritative committee source said. FBI agents spent two hours at the Monocle Friday, interviewing the owner, the maitre d', bartenders and waiters, The Times learned. The agents were told that Tower, when he was in the Senate, "used to drink martinis." Wine or Tonic Water But one source said that no one on the staff contradicted Tower's statement that in recent years he has moderated his once-heavy drinking and now drinks only an occasional glass of wine. In fact, in recent weeks, the staff told agents, he often has ordered tonic water. None of the staff could recall any recent incident of improper behavior by Tower at the restaurant, sources said. On Thursday, the Armed Services Committee had been set to approve the Tower nomination, but Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) abruptly canceled the vote because of the new charges, which he referred immediately to FBI Director William S. Sessions. The bureau already had conducted an extensive background investigation of Tower, a 24-year Senate veteran who headed the Armed Services panel from 1981 to 1985. When he nominated Tower, President Bush said he was "totally satisfied" with the FBI check. No Results Until Tuesday Nunn said he did not expect the latest FBI inquiry to be completed until at least Tuesday. Tower Friday refused to comment, as he has throughout the confirmation inquiry. Some Tower supporters complain that committee Democrats are turning the confirmation process into a "circus" for partisan political reasons. "This is terribly cruel to a man who's just sort of hanging out there," said committee member Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.), a Tower supporter. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that "our feeling is simply that we believe he will be confirmed but that, whenever there are any new concerns raised, they need to be looked into." A senior White House staff member, who asked not to be identified, said Administration officials were getting impatient with the delays in Tower's confirmation. "Everybody kind of wants to get our Cabinet in," the aide said. "People want to see him confirmed and on the job." House Armed Services Committee Chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.) said that the controversy has already hobbled Tower's ability to lead the Pentagon effectively. "This whole nomination process is going to present a problem for him at the Pentagon in terms of running the place," Aspin said. Tower Urged to Withdraw And two influential defense industry trade magazines on Monday will call for Tower to withdraw from consideration for the Pentagon post. In an editorial prepared for Monday's issue, Defense News, a trade paper widely read by defense contractors and on Capitol Hill, says: "Withdrawal is necessary because the record of Mr. Tower's professional life raises substantive doubt that he can perform with utmost effectiveness . . . ." Army Times, another prominent defense community publication, says Tower is unsuited for the Defense Department post because of his work as a consultant to defense contractors shortly after leaving government service in 1986. It said that "the speed and greed with which Tower spun through the revolving door (between government and industry) is appalling." Tower has said that he was paid a total of more than $750,000 by six defense firms in the two years after leaving government service. Tower's profitable consulting work had raised concerns among a number of members of the Armed Services Committee but did not appear to threaten his nomination. Called Morally Unfit Tower's personal conduct, however, became an issue in the hearings on Tuesday, when conservative critic Paul Weyrich charged that the former senator was morally unfit for the post because of a history of drinking and womanizing. After a lengthy closed session in which Tower was allowed to respond to Weyrich's charges, Nunn asked the nominee publicly whether he had a problem with alcohol. "I have none, senator," Tower replied. "I am a man of some discipline." Staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow, Robert L. Jackson, Melissa Healy and James Gerstenzang contributed to this story. 
 More than 2,500 dogs, representing 138 breeds, will compete for prizes at Sunday's All Breed Dog Show and Obedience Trials at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. For families who are thinking about getting a dog, this is a chance to size up the possibilities and talk with pet owners about the advantages and disadvantages of different breeds. Around the arena, owners will be busy grooming and cajoling their charges into center-ring readiness. Between judgings, a troupe of Dobermans will jump through hoops and barrels and will scale walls. In the scent relay, teams of dogs will jump over hurdles and locate the jackets of their owners. There will also be a demonstration of how dogs herd farm animals. Other attractions include the appearance of Warren Eckstein, radio host of "Pet Show," who will answer behavioral questions about dogs (as well as cats, pigs and goldfish, if he's asked); free veterinary advice; a demonstration of how 4-H youngsters help train puppies to become guide dogs, and more than 70 vendors selling dog paraphernalia. A computer is provided for visitors' use to find out which breeds would best suit their life styles. Show hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission: adults, $4.50; children, $1. Information: (818) 789-8350. 
 The Los Angeles Sports Council, in a bid to bring Super Bowl XXVII to the Rose Bowl in 1993, will offer the stadium to the National Football League rent-free in a proposal next Monday. The Sports Council, which represents the Los Angeles-Orange County area in trying to bring major sports attractions here, also will offer the NFL all income from concessions and the sale of novelty items. Competing against the Rose Bowl are San Diego, San Francisco and Phoenix. Because the Rose Bowl has 102,083 seats, the council selected it as the prime venue. Under a joint agreement, the Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium did not submit competing bids, but they would share in the revenues if Pasadena gets the game, said Ed Aghjayan, Pasadena's deputy city manager. "The bulk of the revenue would go to the Rose Bowl, but the idea is that we would share with the Coliseum and Anaheim," Aghjayan said. Details of the split are still being negotiated. One plan calls for the Rose Bowl to receive 75% of the proceeds, with the two other facilities sharing 25%. Pasadena earned $300,000 from the 1983 Super Bowl and $800,000 in 1987, the money coming from stadium rental fees, concession sales, admission taxes, charges for use of a hospitality tent compound and parking fees. In addition, the city was allowed to buy 1,200 tickets at face value for local distribution by directors and other city officials. But as bidding for the Super Bowl has become more competitive, the NFL has taken more of the income, Aghjayan said in a report to the city's Board of Directors. In most parts of the country, the stadium is offered rent-free in exchange for the benefits to local economies, he said. Under the proposal for the 1993 game, the city would give up most of the previous sources of revenue and allocate them to the NFL. It also would provide 350,000 square feet of space for the league to build a hospitality tent compound. The city would receive about $79,000 from seat taxes, $75,000 in hotel and sales taxes arising from the event and a share of about $55,000 in parking fees. The board has approved the proposal. The Rose Bowl, meanwhile, has proposed an $8.3-million project to renovate the press box and restructure about 1,000 seats for club seating, with an adjacent lounge, restaurant, hall of fame museum and gift shop. SUPER BOWLS AT COLISEUM, ROSE BOWL <TABLE CWL="1.56IN:1.56IN:2.11IN:3.87IN" WDM="ABS" NCOLS="4"> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> No. </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> Year </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> Site </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> Result </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> I </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1967 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Coliseum </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Green Bay 35, K.C. 10 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> VII </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1973 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Coliseum </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Miami 14, Washington 7 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XI </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1977 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Rose Bowl </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Raiders 32, Minnesota 14 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XIV </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1980 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Rose Bowl </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Pittsburgh 31, Rams 19 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XVII </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1983 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Rose Bowl </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Washington 27, Miami 17 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XXI </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1987 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Rose Bowl </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> N.Y. Giants 39, Denver 20 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> </TABLE> UPCOMING SUPER BOWLS <TABLE CWL="1.56IN:1.56IN:2.33IN" WDM="ABS" NCOLS="3"> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> No. </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> Year </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="C" CVJ="C"> Site </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL> </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XXV </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1991 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Tampa Bay </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> <TABLEROW> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> XXVI </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="R" CVJ="C"> 1992 </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> <TABLECELL CHJ="L" CVJ="C"> Minneapolis </TABLECELL> <CELLRULE> </CELLRULE> </TABLEROW> <ROWRULE> </ROWRULE> </TABLE> 
 The Senate panel weighing John Tower's nomination to be defense secretary has found a substantial discrepancy in Tower's descriptions of his business dealings with a British aircraft and weapons manufacturer, congressional sources said Friday. Tower testified last week that he had represented British Aerospace Inc. only on civil aviation matters, not as a consultant on military systems. But, in a divorce deposition, taken in June, 1987, Tower stated that he had given the company advice on "selling certain systems to the Defense Department." In the deposition, Tower said he represented the firm on a range of military programs and was paid $8,000 a month. Records show that the payments continued from June, 1986, until December, 1988. Also, he served on the board of directors of the company, the U.S. subsidiary of British Aerospace PLC. Concerns About Veracity The discrepancy, sources said, has prompted concerns about the veracity and completeness of Tower's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the panel hearing testimony on his confirmation. And it raises the question of whether Tower should have registered as a lobbyist for foreign interests under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, they said. Tower's relationships with arms makers are central to reservations expressed by some senators about his nomination. Lawmakers from both parties have said they are concerned that there would be a continuing appearance of conflict of interest hanging over Tower because of his employment by weapons firms, which brought him at least $760,000 in 2 1/2 years -- not including the more than $200,000 British Aerospace paid him. In his testimony, Tower has described his lobbying and consulting work for a half-dozen U.S. defense firms that do business with the Pentagon. The addition of the British firm to the list would add another -- and the first foreign-based firm -- whose interests could pose a potential conflict. Sources said the apparent discrepancy in testimony raises the prospect that Tower could be recalled to testify under oath about his work for the firm. Tower aides said they had no comment on the matter. A lengthy FBI investigation into Tower's business dealings and his personal behavior has stalled a vote by the committee on his confirmation. The FBI is looking into new charges about Tower's alleged drinking, womanizing and receipt of campaign contributions and has said that it cannot complete the inquiry for another 10 days. The FBI is trying to determine whether Tower, who left the Senate in 1985 after 24 years, received illegal corporate campaign contributions from a military electronics firm that later became part of Unisys Corp., sources said Friday. The allegation was raised by a witness in the FBI's massive Ill Wind probe into corruption in Pentagon weapons-buying. Federal investigators have not uncovered any evidence that Tower was aware that his 1984 campaign fund received any illicit contributions from consultants employed by former Unisys executive Charles F. Gardner, said to be a central figure in the Pentagon bribery investigation. A Unisys spokesman said Friday that the company was conducting an internal inquiry into the matter but had found no evidence of involvement by current corporate employees. Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and other committee members are said to be troubled by these issues and have indicated that they may vote against Tower unless the apparent conflicts and questions are resolved. The sworn deposition about Tower's business dealings was never filed in court because Tower chose not to contest the divorce from his second wife, Lilla Burt Cummings. But the document was obtained by the FBI as part of its background investigation of the nominee and is included in the committee's file on Tower. Tower's Testimony Tower told the committee in written and oral testimony that he was employed only by the American unit of British Aerospace and that he worked chiefly on selling the company's commercial jets to U.S. airlines. He said also that he advised the firm on U.S. trade legislation and gave opinions on currency fluctuations. Tower told the committee that he could "recall no actions in connection with any defense activities" and did not include his income from British Aerospace among his earnings from consulting work done for defense contractors. In the divorce papers, however, Tower said that he went to work for British Aerospace Inc. on June 1, 1986, eight weeks after resigning as chief negotiator in the U.S.-Soviet strategic arms reductions talks in Geneva. Around the same time, he entered into lucrative consulting arrangements with major defense firms, including Rockwell International Inc., Textron Inc., LTV Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp. In the deposition, Tower said that Rockwell paid him $120,000 a year but said he was "underutilized" by the firm. He said he advised British Aerospace on its chances of selling its training jets, fighter planes and missile systems to the Pentagon. Deposition Cites Weapons Among the British Aerospace products Tower tried to sell to U.S. military officials were the Tornado fighter, the Hawk trainer, the Rapier anti-aircraft missile and the Seawolf short-range air defense missile for ships, according to the deposition. He said in the document that he had been valuable to the firm because he was "plugged in in this town" and "knows the defense business pretty well." He said that his contacts throughout government made him "marketable." The complex Foreign Agents Registration Act requires individuals working for or representing foreign entities in the United States to register with the Justice Department. No registration by Tower is on file, officials said. In related developments: -- Vice President Dan Quayle, talking to reporters on a flight to Florida, said that he had known Tower for eight years and "I have never seen him inebriated. I have never seen drinking be a factor in John Tower's life, other than a social glass of wine. . . . Those of us who know him, worked with him, can attest to the fact that he has not had this problem, it did not affect him when he was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee." When asked whether womanizing is a relevant topic for inquiry, he replied: "You have to look at the qualifications of the secretary of defense. Whether he will be a capable secretary of defense and do the job of being secretary of defense. Let's focus on the qualifications." -- Tower's doctor said Friday that he has no evidence to indicate that the former Texas senator suffered any medical symptoms of alcoholism. Dr. R. D. Dignan, who performed surgery to remove a polyp from Tower's colon on Jan. 5, said that after the operation he advised Tower to limit his drinking to one or two glasses of wine with dinner. -- A longtime Bush political adviser said that Bush "knew what he was doing" when he named Tower to the post and would not withdraw the nomination, despite the controversy. As for Tower, this adviser said: "He's one tough little s.o.b. and he's not going to back off." Staff writers Jack Nelson, Melissa Healy and James Gerstenzang contributed to this story. 
 World leaders welcomed South Africa's announcement Saturday of Nelson R. Mandela's impending release from prison, and international rejoicing began to build for an event so long awaited by so many. Britain said it is time to resume contacts with internationally isolated South Africa, but anti-apartheid campaigners warned against any reduction of pressure on the white-led government. President Bush praised South African President Frederik W. de Klerk for "bold and imaginative leadership," and the Canadian government expressed delight at the announcement that Mandela would be released today. In Lusaka, Zambian President Kenneth D. Kaunda, whose country has been a refuge for the exiled leadership of Mandela's African National Congress, said his first reaction was to kneel down and thank God. "Really, we must believe in the leadership of the people of South Africa to put their heads together and build on these developments," Kaunda said. Hours after the announcement of Mandela's release date, the ANC's leadership announced from its headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia: "We welcome Nelson Mandela back from all those years of imprisonment into our midst with great joy." "Ireland rejoices that Nelson Mandela is free at last," said Charles Haughey, Irish prime minister and current president of the European Community, which has been using economic sanctions to pressure Pretoria to give up apartheid. "By his indomitable courage he has demonstrated once again that the human spirit can never be vanquished," Haughey said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, current chairman of the Organization of African Unity, sent Mandela a message of congratulation, praising the "sacrifices of the great people of South Africa" and assuring him of Egyptian solidarity with his cause. In the Soviet Union, Moscow Radio broadcast news of the announcement, then added: "Nelson Mandela has become the world's most famous political prisoner, put in jail for the struggle against apartheid in South Africa." Amsterdam's central Leidseplein square was temporarily rechristened Nelson Mandela Square. In London, a jubilant crowd of about 120, some waving pictures of Mandela, celebrated in the pouring rain outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square. In a statement released by her 10 Downing St. office, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "We believe that the steps President de Klerk has taken merit a positive, practical response." "We believe it no longer makes sense to discourage new investment in South Africa -- a restraint which in our case in any event has been voluntary -- and we shall be discussing this with our EC partners," she said. In 1986, the European Community banned imports of South African iron, steel and Kruggerand gold coins, and barred new investment in the country. It had already frozen scientific and cultural relations. Britain regards the iron, steel and coin embargoes as mandatory, but not the investment ban, and has already announced that it is no longer observing the scientific and cultural embargo. In London, Bob Hughes, chairman of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, said he was delighted at the news, which he called "a tremendous victory for the people of South Africa and for the international sanctions campaign." Commonwealth Secretary General Shridath Ramphal said Mandela's safety must be guaranteed by the South African government and that until change there becomes irreversible, the Commonwealth will sustain its pressure for the end of apartheid. "It is not yet time to demobilize the international support for apartheid's victims," he said. 
 From behind bars, Nelson Mandela has dominated the fight for black rights in South Africa. The following are some of the key events in his life. 1944 Mandela joins the African National Congress at age 26, later becoming president of the group's Youth League. In a short time, the ANC becomes the force behind black protests. When the National Party comes to power in 1948, the ANC begins planning a campaign of civil disobedience to fight the party's apartheid policy. June, 1952 Mandela is named leader of the campaign and breaks curfew as the first act of defiance. In December, he is arrested and charged under Suppression of Communism Act. He gets a suspended sentence and is barred from attending meetings or leaving Johannesburg. December, 1956 A campaign of civil disobedience by the ANC results in Mandela being detained along with 155 others and charged with treason. The trial, which lasts until 1961, ends in acquittal. March, 1960 Sixty-nine black protesters are killed by police in Sharpeville; a state of emergency is declared and the ANC is outlawed. January, 1962 Attends Pan-African Freedom Movement Conference in Ethiopia; travels to London to meet with leftists. In August he is charged with incitement and leaving the country illegally; gets five-year jail term. July, 1963 With Mandela in jail, police raid ANC offices, seizing documents outlining guerrilla campaign. Mandela, seven others are charged with sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. April-June, 1964 Mandela and seven others are sentenced to life in prison. May, 1984 Mandela is allowed a visit with his wife -- the first since 1962. January, 1985 President Pieter W. Botha offers to free Mandela if he renounces violence; Mandela refuses until the government takes steps to dismantle apartheid and grants full political rights to blacks. July, 1988 Mandela turns 70. A rock concert in London is held in his honor. But South Africa bans all local celebrations. August, 1988 Mandela contracts tuberculosis and is transferred to a hospital. Three months later he is taken to a prison farm in Paarl and placed in a house usually reserved for prison employees. July, 1989 Mandela meets with outgoing president Botha at the presidential mansion. One week later, Mandela is allowed to make his first officially sanctioned public statement since his conviction. His statement makes clear his position has not changed in 28 years. December, 1989 President Frederik W. de Klerk meets Mandela for the first time. February, 1990 De Klerk lifts ANC ban and says Mandela will be released. On Feb. 11, the nation's best-known black leader becomes a free man at last. 
 West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl declared on his return from Moscow on Sunday that "the way is now free" for German reunification. His meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev convinced him, he told West German radio, that the two German states should "enter into negotiations as quickly as possible" after the March 18 East German election. Kohl will meet with East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bonn to discuss immediate steps in economic cooperation, including monetary union, to prevent the collapse of the faltering East German economy. "Political and economic union go hand in hand," Kohl said. He said that immediate steps must be taken on the economic front to "stop the hemorrhage of East Germans to the Federal Republic and keep them in their heimat," or home, in East Germany. Kohl said that his talks with Gorbachev -- who told him that reunification is a matter for the Germans themselves to decide -- could lead to an "economic breakthrough" in East Germany, which in turn could provide a "push forward" for all of Europe. Asked how soon the two Germanys could merge, Kohl declared that the March election has to come first, and "then I think it will all go very quickly." The chancellor said that almost all of the political parties and opposition groups in East Germany now support reunification. And after the election, he said, "they will want to put their programs into practice quickly." Gorbachev inquired about plans by West German politicians to campaign in East Germany, Kohl said, adding that the Soviet leader did not appear to be upset about such political activity. West Germany's Social Democratic Party is expected to campaign heavily in East Germany in support of a fledging branch of the party that has taken a surprisingly strong lead in public opinion polls. Major members of the party, including former Chancellor Willy Brandt, are scheduled to appear at rallies on behalf of the East German Social Democrats. With the surge of the East German Social Democrats, political analysts are pointing to the strange role they could play in the ultimate political fate of Kohl. Ever since reunification became a blazing issue, Kohl's standing in West German opinion polls has risen, and if the national elections, now scheduled for December, were held today, he would have a good chance of leading his Christian Democratic Union to victory. But if the two Germanys are fused before the West Germany election in December, the growing number of Social Democratic voters in what today is East Germany -- who would presumably be allowed to vote in December -- could easily tip the balance away from the Christian Democrats, pushing Kohl out of the government leadership. 
 Try to think of Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon less as a "happening," which it surely is; or a world-class athletic event, which it may become but is not now. Look at it more as a moving advertising opportunity, human billboards running 26.2 miles through the city on live television. With that kind of exposure to a potential 12 million Southern Californians, it's no wonder that in only five years the L. A. Marathon has become the best-marketed, slickest, most modern and sponsor-driven of the world's major marathons. It may not be an overstatement that the L. A. Marathon is one of the country's best-marketed sports events of any kind. Depending on your point of view, this may or may not be good news. Massive marketing campaigns and major sponsors lining up for a seat on the money wagon do not make L. A. an elite race, give it prestige or attract the world's best runners. However, they do generate a tremendous amount of money for all concerned. And that may yet transform this race, if -- as marathon President Bill Burke said this week -- the total purse of $202,520 is increased by $100,000 next year and significantly more money is added for appearance fees to lure top athletes. The lineup of commercial support is impressive. The race has Mercedes-Benz of North America as its presenting sponsor, making it one of 10 companies that have not only paid the race organizers to be called sponsors, but have also put more money into the race either outright or by providing products and services. Mercedes provides automobiles for the top male and female finishers. The Times is one of the race's more generous sponsors. According to Will Kern, director of Times special events, this year's marathon has received almost $500,000 worth of donated advertising space. For this, the newspaper has received more than $50,000 in contributions to the Times Fund charity, Kern said. In addition, the marathon sells its name to licensees and suppliers, who donate everything from fruit and water to the official salted snack and the official hair-growth product. The race's marketing-oriented philosophy can be traced to Burke and marathon Vice President Marie Patrick. "It was because of our backgrounds in business," said Patrick, who came to the marathon from sports marketing in tennis. "We're not runners, never have been. We knew that you have to have big dollars in the beginning. From there you can move forward to be a major event." Burke and Patrick have formed a persuasive and successful recruiting team. According to Mary Reiling, national event manager for AT&amp;T, the L.A. Marathon's "sponsor-friendly" approach is a big incentive. "I've worked a lot of events with a lot of different promoters, but they are by far the most creative group I've ever seen," she said. Mercedes-Benz, which also sponsors marathons in New York and San Francisco, likes the fact that the race gives them a foothold in their No. 1 market. "The whole marketing approach of Bill Burke is great for sponsors," said Linda Paulmeno, manager of press relations for Mercedes-Benz. "The whole race is very marketing-oriented." The race depends on sponsors for the bulk of its operating budget, which supports a year-round full-time staff. Patrick said the cost to sponsors varies from "the mid-six-figure range to over $1 million." The fees depend on the services and products offered by a firm. Trade-outs are common. The marathon receives several hundred thousand dollars from KCOP (Channel 13) for the television rights, and the race has also been sold to cable and will be covered by radio. The sponsors also work together for mutual benefit. For example, AT&amp;T is buying commercial time on Channel 13's broadcast, and Channel 13 is providing updates on the AT&amp;T Friendship Cup, an international race within the race. In fact, television makes the race more attractive to sponsors, who figure to multiply their exposure. Richard Lipeles, president of PacifiCare Health Systems, said sponsorship in the race helps separate his company in a congested health-care market. Also, the company provides headbands to all runners. "Certainly, we'd love it if every runner wore our headband during the race," he said. 
 Well, it did turn out to be "Rain Man's" evening, but not until the last few minutes, and if there was a message in Wednesday night's Academy Awards results, it's that parity has returned to Hollywood. For two-thirds of the show, the academy voters seemed determined to give an award to every film nominated. As it was, 10 different movies split 17 awards, the most winners for one year in this decade. The major awards made the forecasters look smart and the academy predictable. "Rain Man" did win the grand prize (and three other big ones) and "Mississippi Burning," with just one Oscar for cinematography, did get punished for its highly publicized historical muddling. But gone, for a refreshing change, was the slate voting that has turned many recent Academy Awards shows into one-note evenings that kept some deserving people out of the Oscar resale market. "Rain Man," its director Barry Levinson, Hoffman and the screenwriters (the two of several who worked on it) may have fulfilled their roles as favorites, but there were no sure things elsewhere, and people looking for early patterns had to throw away the form. The final score shows "Rain Man" with four Oscars and "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" with three each. But there were seven other films with one award each. Whether the spread represents a change in voting habits, or an absence of a film to rally around, it made for a great show and in some cases, the awards helped right some wrongs in the nominations process. That "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" won three of the six awards for which it was nominated may save the academy some embarrassment for neglecting the one 1988 film sure to be regarded as a classic. The good news for observers of voter psychology were the awards given to films that were not box-office hits. The voters tend to favor those films that are both of substance and commercially successful (thus: "Rain Man"), and whether they even bother to see the other nominees is often questioned. This year, several winners came from films that failed to ring up big numbers at the box office: Jodie Foster as best actress from "The Accused," Geena Davis as best supporting actress from "The Accidental Tourist." More surprising were the awards given to "Bird" and "The Milagro Beanfield War," films that divided critics and sent moviegoers off to the video store looking for alternatives. Both films were flawed, but the sound editing done for "Bird," which seamlessly blended old jazz recordings with fresh studio cuts done by contemporary musicians, was brilliant and deserved the award its four-man sound team won. David Grusin's Oscar for scoring "The Milagro Beanfield War" overcame even bigger odds, winning over popular John Williams' score for "The Accidental Tourist." The selective mood of the voters is a reflection of the kind of year the film industry had, and whether the spread is a quirk, one can hope it suggests a trend. The 1988 slate of films was, on total, a marked improvement over recent years. The industry is still adjusting to its changing -- its older and more demanding audience -- and that means a wider variety of films. Nominees this year represented as wide a range of material as any in years, and they produced more winning films. The events last night played hell with the office pool, but it made for a better show. Maybe it's the start of something new. 
 Who would have thought that Snow White, of all people, would become the source of Oscar night's only major glitch? The Walt Disney Co. filed suit in Los Angeles federal court Thursday against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, charging copyright infringement of its Snow White character and unfair competition. The famous fairy tale character, portrayed by singer-dancer Eileen Bowman, opened Wednesday night's Academy Awards ceremonies with an elaborate, 10-minute song-and-dance routine. But Disney contends that the character was used on the show without the company's permission. "We have great respect for the academy and for all that it does," Frank Wells, Disney's president and chief operating officer, said Thursday in a prepared statement. "We were therefore greatly surprised and dismayed when we viewed last evening's Academy Awards ceremonies to see that our Snow White character had been used extensively without our permission." Wells said the suit was filed only after the company asked the academy to publicly apologize for its unauthorized use of the character, which debuted in a 1937 full-length cartoon film. "If such a statement had been agreed to by the academy," Wells said, "we would have considered the matter ended. For its own reasons, however, the academy unfortunately did not accede to our request." Disney spokesman Erwin Okun did not provide any details of Thursday's negotiations with academy officials over an apology, except to say that the academy's offer "was not to our satisfaction." Bruce Davis, the academy's executive administrator, declined comment, saying top officials needed time to assess the suit. "We haven't gotten any official notification of this," Davis said, adding that he learned of the legal action from a reporter. Ironically, the academy is extremely protective of the Oscar name and statuette copyrights and is quick to object to the image's unauthorized use. Number Kept Secret Alan Carr, who produced the Oscar show, had ordered that the details of the opening number be kept secret until Wednesday night's ABC telecast. But in its suit, Disney says a company representative learned of the plans early in the week. The company claims that the academy refused to respond to its inquiries until Wednesday afternoon. At that point, the Disney statement said, the academy, "through a legal representative, denied to Disney that the Academy Award program contained any material deleterious to the interests of Disney, without revealing the academy's intention to feature Disney's Snow White." Carr could not be reached for comment Thursday. The Snow White character -- as portrayed Wednesday night by Bowman -- was created by Steve Silver, who for 15 years has used the character in the San Francisco musical revue "Beach Blanket Babylon." Disney files dozens of suits a year against individuals and companies that copy its characters, particularly in consumer products. "We sue all the time," Okun said. But Okun said the company, which won four Oscars Wednesday night, has never sued Silver over his use of the Snow White character in that production. The spokesman, however, did not preclude the possibility of a future lawsuit. "We look at these characters as the heart and soul of the company," Okun explained. 
 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher today argued passionately during a four-hour meeting that covered subjects ranging from disarmament to reports of Soviet bomber sales to Libya, officials said. Reopening a European peace offensive that was disrupted by the Armenian earthquake, Gorbachev had "extremely frank exchanges, animated, warm, passionate and solemn," said a Thatcher spokesman, requesting anonymity. Gorbachev also hit the streets of London, stopping his motorcade to shake hands with about 20 people in a crowd of several hundred who cheered him outside Westminster Abbey. The Thatcher spokesman said the Soviet leader and the staunchly anti-Communist prime minister "love arguing." Emerging from her 10 Downing St. residence into the icy rain with Gorbachev at her side, Thatcher told reporters: "The talks have been very deep, very wide ranging and very friendly, and as always we got to grips with the real issues." The spokesman said Thatcher asked Gorbachev about a report from Washington that Moscow sold up to 15 long-range fighter-bombers to Libya, which Britain accuses of sponsoring terrorism. Gorbachev did not respond, he said. Although the two leaders could make no progress on the bomber issue, the spokesman said the Soviet and British foreign ministers, meeting separately, would most likely discuss the matter at length. He said Thatcher also accused the Soviets of having been "not as frank as they should be" about their chemical weapons arsenal. He quoted Gorbachev as replying: "If you aren't fully satisfied, then quite clearly we have to have more exchanges. We have got to try better to convince each other." Another area of disagreement was Gorbachev's goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons from Europe. Thatcher believes the deterrence of nuclear weapons prevents war. 
 Someday, Milan Bakes of Czechoslovakia might find himself the toast of Pilsen, his hometown. As one of the world's finest small-bore free-rifle shooters, he is coming close. Bakes, 27, set a world record in the kneeling portion of the three-position rifle competition Friday en route to a gold medal at the 1990 World Cup USA Olympic-style shooting tournament at Petersen's Prado Tiro Ranges in Chino. By scoring 396 of a possible 400 points, Bakes broke the record set last week in Mexico City by Yugoslavia's Rajmond Debevec. The event includes 120 total shots in three positions -- prone, standing and kneeling. Bakes once held the record for standing, too, but that was four years ago. He has yet to hold the prone record, but his 397 in that discipline helped him take a big lead in one of three medal events Friday. Counting the 10-shot shoot-off, Bakes finished with 1,275.9 points out of 1,309. Jean Pierre Amat of France was second with 1,271.9. Bakes, a lieutenant in the Czech army, said he was confident after his kneeling performance that he would do well. In the day's closest competition, Francoise Decharne of Moulin, France, won the women's air rifle competition with a total of 496.4 of a possible 509. Soon Young Jin of South Korea was second and Deena Wigger of Murray, Ky., was third. Wigger was second after the regular competition ended, but fell 0.7 of a point behind Jin in a 10-shot final round. All international events have added the final round to increase television and spectator interest. The top eight shooters in pistol, rifle and air events qualify, whereas the top six advance in shotgun events. In women's air pistol, Jasna Sekaric of Yugoslavia won her second gold of the four-day event with a total of 490.8. Hyun Joo Bang of South Korea was second and Margit Stein of West Germany was third. Sekaric, 24, held a nine-point lead going into the final round. "My final was not so good," she said. "I had too big of a lead. I usually shoot better in these finals when I am pressed." Despite her lapse, she still won by 8.4 points over Bang, perhaps the most appropriately named competitor in this tournament featuring 46 countries. Sekaric, a secretary at a shooting club, said she has been competing for 10 years. She won gold and bronze medals at the Seoul Olympics. Bang, also 24, and a Seoul bank accountant, did not fare so well in 1988. Friday was her best international performance. 
 A fiery explosion in a giant gun turret rocked the refitted battleship Iowa on maneuvers in the Atlantic today, killing at least 47 sailors and injuring an undetermined number, the Pentagon said. Defense Department spokesman Dan Howard said the explosion may have resulted from the blast of a 110-pound gunpowder bag used to fire shells that weigh more than a ton a distance of up to 23 miles. The 16-inch guns are the biggest in the Navy arsenal. "We assume it was a powder bag," Howard said in Brussels. Another spokesman said at least 47 crewmen were killed in the explosion that ripped through the turret when one of the giant guns was being fired during a training exercise about 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. No Danger of Sinking The crew extinguished the fire that broke out. The spokesman said he had no word on the number of injured. The aircraft carrier Coral Sea steamed to the scene, sending out helicopters to land supplies and medical crews on the ship. The Iowa headed toward Roosevelt Roads Naval Base in Puerto Rico. It was in no danger of sinking. "We lost fine young lives," President Bush said during a photo session with congressional leaders at the White House. "It's a great tragedy and a matter of terrible sadness," Bush said. He said he wanted to "express my regrets, especially to the families" of the victims. Guns Date From 1943 Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. William Crowe were informed of the incident while attending a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels. The Iowa's 16-inch guns are in three turrets. The explosion took place in the No. 2 turret. The guns are originals dating from the ship's first commissioning at the height of World War II in 1943 as a sister ship of the Missouri, aboard which the Japanese signed the war-ending surrender document. The powder bags are stored below decks in heavily armored magazines. Defense officials traveling with Cheney said seawater was pumped into the magazine where the fire and explosion occurred. Each of the ship's nine guns requires a crew of 60 to 70 to operate it, with 20 to 30 people in the turret and the others below, sending up shells and powder bags. The powder bags are loaded behind the shells. Often Refurbished "It's rather labor-intensive," a Pentagon spokesman said. The Iowa itself has been refurbished many times since it was commissioned and was most recently put back into service in December, 1982. The ship was deployed in the Persian Gulf region between September, 1987, and February, 1988, as a symbol of America's ability to strike deep into Iran. It also saw service in the Korean War. The ship, 58,000 tons fully loaded, sails out of Norfolk, Va., and carries a crew of about 1,600. 
 Countdown clocks resumed ticking Saturday for the shuttle Discovery's delayed launch Tuesday to boost the $1.5-billion Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Engineers also readied the shuttle Columbia for rollout to its launch pad today for a May flight. Discovery's carefully scripted countdown began on time at 3 p.m. The ship's five-member crew is set to blast off at 5:31 a.m. PDT Tuesday, 14 days after the flight was grounded just four minutes before takeoff by a faulty hydraulic power steering unit. "We're off and running," NASA spokesman George Diller said. "We're still 80% go for launch weather-wise." With Discovery's launch processing on track, engineers worked to ready Columbia for its May 16 Spacelab astronomy mission. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has not had two shuttles on the launch pad since Columbia took off Jan. 12, 1986, with Challenger poised on a pad 1.7 miles away. Columbia's 3.5-mile trip to the firing stand was set to begin at 8 a.m. today. Five hours later, Discovery's five-member crew was scheduled to fly in from the Johnson Space Center in Houston to make final preparations for launch. Commander Loren J. Shriver, 45; co-pilot Charles F. Bolden, 43; Steven A. Hawley, 38; Bruce McCandless, 52, and Kathryn D. Sullivan, 38, plan to launch the telescope Wednesday. Discovery's replacement auxiliary power unit was successfully test fired Wednesday and the battery charging for the telescope was completed Thursday, one day ahead of schedule. 
 A dozen of the 47 sailors killed in an explosion aboard the battleship Iowa have undergone pathology exams, and an official said four of them were dressed in full military uniform and sent to their hometowns Saturday for burial. Air Force spokesman Capt. Walter Thorp said Saturday it will take as long as 10 days to complete the pathology process on the remaining 35 sailors who died when gunpowder exploded in the No. 2 turret of the Iowa on Wednesday, as the World War II-era battleship was conducting an exercise 200 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. Although autopsies are not conducted at the base as a matter of policy, the Navy requested forensics exams for each of the sailors. As Navy officials continued their inquiry into the explosion, sailors aboard the Wisconsin, sister ship to the Iowa, opened their ship Saturday in Norfolk, Va., to talk about their pride in battleships and the sense of loss. Sailors Knew Victims "The one thing on our mind is the tragic loss of many of our ex-shipmates," said Capt. Jerry M. Blesch, commander of the Wisconsin. With only four battleships in the Navy, many aboard the Iowa once served on the Wisconsin. 'Face Same Dangers' "These are all old ships," said Lt. Matt Schatzle, 25, of Gulfport, Miss., who commands the three 16-inch guns of the Wisconsin's turret No. 3. "The crews have a connection with all the old sailors who served on the same ships back in World War II. . . . They do the same jobs, they face the same dangers." Norfolk Naval Base prepared to welcome home the Iowa, which is expected to arrive at the world's largest naval station this afternoon, and local merchants offered free services to families of the victims. Lt. Cmdr. Alan Dooley said a team of six investigators was aboard the ship, searching for clues to the blast. He said no cause of death has been announced for any sailors, but the Washington Post reported that seamen in the upper chambers of gun turret No. 2 died instantly in the fiery explosion, whereas those in the lower levels were suffocated as the blast siphoned off their oxygen. Dooley refused to comment on the newspaper report. 
 The scarred battleship Iowa made a somber return Sunday to its home port, where about 3,000 family members and friends of the crew welcomed loved ones who escaped an explosion that killed 47 sailors. Sailors in whites with black arm bands lined the rails as the huge vessel docked at the Norfolk Naval Base's Pier 5. Twenty minutes later, families started filing aboard the ship, exchanging tearful embraces with the returning sailors. The explosion Wednesday flashed through the Iowa's No. 2 gun turret, which extends six decks down into the ship. There were 11 survivors inside the turret, all on the lowest deck where they were loading powder from the ship's magazines, the Navy said. Crewmen Stand on Turret Two of the surviving crewmen of No. 2 turret stood on top of the fire-blackened turret as the ship pulled into the pier, with full crews on the ship's two other turrets. When the vessel first appeared there were scattered cheers among those on the dock, but all remained silent as the ship pulled into the pier. Adm. Powell F. Carter, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, was there to greet the vessel. As the ship docked, three Marines raised a flag to half-staff at the stern. The Navy kept the news media about 300 yards from the families, and reporters were not allowed to talk with the families or crewmen. The violence and power of the turret explosion was shown in an amateur videotape released by the Navy on Sunday. The tape was made by an officer on the bridge of the Iowa who wanted to record the firing of the big guns. Jet of Intense Fire The detonation, which appears to blast away the gasket-like rubber "bloomers" that seal the turret's gun slits, is followed by a jet of intense fire and thick smoke from the front and base of the gunhouse. The videotape cut immediately to damage-control firefighters spraying heavy streams of water onto the turret. Churches throughout the area dedicated prayers Sunday morning to the families of Iowa crewmen. "We have lost 47 of our number in a tragic way," said Cmdr. John L. Fitzgerald, a chaplain, in a service at the Norfolk Naval Air Station. "Our faith helps us to handle what science cannot answer, the mystery of death." A red rose, a yellow ribbon with the number 47 on it and a book containing the names of the dead were taken to the altar. This morning, President Bush will lead a memorial service in a base hangar that can accommodate 3,000 people. The families of the victims were invited, but Navy officials said they did not know how many would attend. The explosion occurred during exercises off Puerto Rico. The Pentagon said it happened before the middle 16-inch gun of the three-gun turret had been fired. The guns, the largest on any ship at sea, use six 110-pound bags of black powder to fire a 2,700-pound projectile up to 23 miles. Recommissioned by Reagan The Iowa and its sister ships, the Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin, were commissioned during World War II and mothballed after the Korean War. They were recommissioned during the Ronald Reagan Administration. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Sunday that he believes the four battleships still "have merit" as weapons in the U.S. arsenal and have a future in the modern Navy. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney called the ships "one way to supplement" the usefulness of carrier battle groups "in terms of a show of force and showing the flag." "They are effective," he said. "They were relatively cheap to bring back into service compared to new ships; they're good cruise missile platforms, so I do think they have a role to play. The question is how you do that and how you pay for it." 
 The space shuttle Discovery brought a thundering end to years of frustration when it blasted off Tuesday to extend human vision to the very edge of the universe. The Discovery roared to a record high orbit of 381 miles, where its crew today will ever-so-carefully deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, billed as the finest optical instrument ever created, a $1.5-billion scope that is half a billion times more powerful than the human eye. Seven years behind schedule, the telescope will be deployed by astronaut Steven Hawley, an astronomer, on a day that many scientists were beginning to doubt they would ever see. "It's been long and frustrating," conceded Edward Weiler, program scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who was visibly shaken by the launch. "Every astronomer," he said softly, "should take today off." The launch marked the beginning of an era -- some say a revolution -- in the exploration of the universe. "After 12 years," astronomer Eric Chaisson of the Space Telescope Science Institute said with a sigh, "it has finally left the Earth." High above the haze of the Earth's atmosphere, the Hubble is expected to produce images 10 times sharper than even the largest telescopes on Earth today. The telescope will not get down to serious science until it completes a seven-month checkout and engineering period. Then scientists will begin studying some of the dimmest and most distant objects in the universe. After the deployment, engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center will begin the tedious process of activating the telescope. Although scientific images that should tell much about the origin and evolution of the universe will not be released for several months, there will be a few teasers early on. In about seven days the Hubble should snap its first picture -- what astronomers call "first light" for the telescope -- but it will be primarily an engineering exercise and the image is not expected to amount to much. The image, of a cluster of stars in the southern sky, will be taken during the beginning of the focusing phase, so it may not even be in focus. But it will still represent a historic moment. "The stars may be so out of focus they look like doughnuts," said Caltech's James Westphal, principal scientist for the telescope's wide field camera. "But however it comes out, it's going to be great." It will mark the moment when humans freed themselves from the fuzzy view from Earth and looked to the heavens with absolute clarity. There will be other space telescopes in the years ahead, but there will never be another moment quite like this. "Every bit of 12 years was worth it," Weiler said moments after Discovery lifted off on a sunny day, pierced a fleecy white cloud and emerged on the other side like a spacecraft on a journey to the future. Sadly, some who have worked so hard for so long were forced to miss the launch. They were here two weeks ago, but when the launch was delayed because of a hydraulic problem they returned to their homes, and many agencies had not budgeted for two trips to Cape Canaveral. Weiler estimated that only about one-third of the people who were here April 10 made it back for Tuesday's launch. Among the missing were most of the families who had accompanied scientists in hopes of seeing this little bit of history. There was only one small snag in the otherwise perfect launch when a valve failed to close automatically, halting the countdown at 31 seconds before launch. The valve was ordered by computer to correct its position, and it did so, clearing the way for the countdown to resume. That delayed the launch about four minutes. But at 5:34 a.m. PDT, with Air Force Col. Loren J. Shriver, 45, sitting in the commander's seat, the shuttle lifted off. All five members of the crew are veterans of previous flights. This is the second flight for Charles F. Bolden Jr., 43, the pilot, and mission specialists Bruce McCandless, 52, and Kathryn D. Sullivan, 38. It is the third flight for Hawley, 38. Sullivan and McCandless will be partially suited for a spacewalk today just in case anything goes wrong during the deployment of the telescope. The most anxious moments will come as Hawley gently lifts the 25,000-pound instrument out of its tight quarters in the cargo bay. He will do that with the shuttle's robotic arm, which he tested in the first hours of the flight. The arm, however, tends to drift slightly, so he will have his hands full keeping the telescope from banging into the sides of the payload bay as he lifts it. Engineers will not breathe freely until the telescope's two giant solar arrays are unfurled. The solar arrays keep the telescope's high-tech batteries charged, and if they are not fully deployed within six hours after the telescope is lifted out of the cargo bay, the batteries will have discharged to the point that some instruments in the telescope could be damaged. So Sullivan and McCandless will be ready to step outside and manually unfurl the solar arrays if necessary. After the telescope is released and functioning on its own, the Discovery will back off about 40 miles and shepherd the scope around Earth for two days. If anything goes wrong during that period, the shuttle can rendezvous with the telescope and McCandless and Sullivan can go out and work on the problem. If there are no problems, Discovery will land at 6:49 a.m. PDT Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base. 
 The Discovery astronauts triumphantly launched the $1.5-billion Hubble Space Telescope one orbit late today after last-ditch commands from Earth freed a stuck solar panel, narrowly averting a daring emergency spacewalk. The telescope began orbiting Earth every 97.3 minutes at an altitude of 380 miles -- high above the atmosphere, which has limited the view of ground-based telescopes. "Discovery, go for Hubble release," Mission Control told the crew at 12:37 p.m. PDT. The event occurred a minute later as the shuttle slowly and carefully backed away as the telescope, glinting in the sunlight, drifted off on its 15-year search for new worlds. The final hours before its release were a nightmare for ground controllers as they commanded the unfurling of two solar panels that power the telescope's instruments. The starboard panel balked twice as it was being pulled from its reel. Mission Control ordered spacewalking astronauts to be ready to go out of the cabin to help. But there was a third try, and it was successful. "We have confirmation that the solar array wing on the starboard side has been deployed," the telescope control center in Maryland said. "So we have good news," said Dave Drachlis of the Hubble control center. The deployment of the two 39-foot panels allowed sun power to flow into the telescope's batteries, relieving worries that they would use up their eight-hour charge. Before astronaut Steve Hawley was able to lift the 12 1/2-ton telescope from the cargo bay with the shuttle's mechanical arm, its instruments had to be disconnected from the shuttle's power and shifted over to the batteries. Astronauts Kathryn Sullivan and Bruce McCandless had put on spacesuits and entered an air lock in order to be ready to walk outside and pull out the array in case mechanical deployment of the solar panels failed. The first solar array unreeled from its mast at midday as the shuttle passed 380 miles above South America's eastern coast. It started providing power to the telescope's batteries, which otherwise had only eight hours of charge. Deployment of the starboard panel, however, was more troublesome. It refused to budge when latches were first released, then moved about a fifth of its 39-foot length and stopped again. A third attempt rolled the panel out all the way. "Houston, we see motion," Commander Loren J. Shriver reported. Hawley began the long process of releasing Hubble shortly after 4 a.m. PDT when he grasped the Hubble with Discovery's 50-foot-long mechanical arm and carefully hoisted the 12 1/2-ton telescope high above the shuttle. Discovery was 380 miles above Earth, 70 miles higher than any shuttle has ever flown. The orbit was dictated by the need to put the telescope above the Earth's distorting atmosphere. Discovery's five astronauts were awed by the view. "I'd like to pass on the quote of the day from the on-board astronomer -- something to the effect that the big marble (Earth) sure looks far away today," Shriver said of Hawley. 
 Lucille Ball, the leggy showgirl, model and B-grade movie queen whose pumpkin-colored hair and genius for comedy made her an icon of television's early years, died early today, a week after undergoing emergency heart surgery. She was 77. The high-spirited star of "I Love Lucy," a show that the nation took to its heart as no other and that continues in syndication around the world, died of a ruptured abdominal aorta at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokesman Ronald Wise said. Miss Ball, who had a heart attack and had throat surgery in 1988, underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai on April 18 to replace her aorta and aortic valve and had been getting out of bed, eating and even walking around the room in recent days. Her recovery had seemed so certain that her husband, comedian Gary Morton, had been exchanging jokes with his wife. She had been asking about their white poodle, Tinker. Wise said the rupture occurred in a portion of the aorta, the main heart artery, far from where the operation was performed. Since the surgery fans had flooded the hospital with hundreds of cards, telegrams and even facsimile machine messages. Hospital officials said it was the largest outpouring they had ever seen. 'Name Brings a Smile' Tributes were plentiful and immediate: "Her red hair, her antics on the screen, her timing and her zest for life made her an American institution," former President and Nancy Reagan said in a statement. "Just the mention of her name brings a smile. . . . We love Lucy and will miss her deeply." "Oh, what a blow. What a shame," said fellow TV clown Dick Van Dyke. "She didn't deal in jokes, she dealt in human behavior. She was a great physical mime with all the instincts of a Chaplin." William S. Paley, chairman of CBS Inc., said from New York: "Lucille Ball will always be the first lady of CBS. With 'I Love Lucy' she helped establish television as the nation's leading entertainment medium. Lucy's extraordinary ability to light up the screen and brighten our lives is a legacy that will last forever." That legacy involved Miss Ball and her late former husband, Cuban band leader Desi Arnaz. They starred regularly from 1951 to 1957 as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in "I Love Lucy." The late Vivian Vance and William Frawley played their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz. The series continued irregularly into the early 1960s. Talent as Entrepreneur Her singularity as a comedian was matched by her talent as a show-business entrepreneur. She and Arnaz established one of TV's first major independent studios. Desilu, as their production company was called, made some of the top comedy shows of the 1950s and '60s, including "December Bride," "Our Miss Brooks" and "Make Room for Daddy." As testament to their value as prime-time stars, Miss Ball and Arnaz signed an $8-million, no-cancellation, two-year contract with CBS in 1953 -- the largest in television history at the time and a figure scarcely any TV star can touch 36 years later. The actress was last seen introducing the "Young Hollywood" production number with Bob Hope at the 61st Academy Awards ceremony March 29, receiving a standing ovation. Looking svelte for her years in a fashionable slit skirt, she seemed to be in good health and laughed freely throughout a brief routine with Hope. Her last series -- "Life With Lucy," co-starring frequent sidekick Gale Gordon -- was carried by ABC at the start of the 1986 season. But the show, Miss Ball's first series in 12 years, was canceled after less than two months when it drew spectacularly low ratings. Miss Ball also played a bag lady in the 1985 TV movie "Stone Pillow," considered one of the most challenging roles of her career. Her timing, wails and pratfalls had made the "I Love Lucy" show one of the most popular in television history. Bridge clubs and bowling teams changed their meeting nights to watch Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz come up with yet another harebrained scheme to drive their long-suffering husbands, Ricky and Fred, to desperation. On-Screen Pregnancy A Chicago department store changed the night it stayed open because shoppers were staying home to watch television. Miss Ball's real, on-screen pregnancy marked a milestone in television, and an estimated 44 million viewers -- more than watched the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- tuned in on Jan. 19, 1953, the night Lucy Ricardo delivered Little Ricky. Her real son was born just four hours before the previously filmed show was broadcast. Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, N.Y., the daughter of an electrician and a concert pianist. Young Lucy, a natural brunette, was dazzled by the stage, but her ambitions were discouraged by an acting school -- "They sent my mother a letter saying she was wasting her money" -- and she turned to modeling under the name Diane Belmont. Her ads for Chesterfield cigarettes caught the attention of Hollywood, and in 1933 she was off to California. As a blonde, she appeared with the Marx Brothers in "Room Service," with Fred Astaire in "Follow the Fleet" and with Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers in "Stage Door." In all, she appeared in more than 75 movies. CBS Wary of Arnaz In 1940, her tresses now the fiery trademark red, Miss Ball met Arnaz, a rumba star. They married within six months. In 1951, when CBS decided to move her radio series, "My Favorite Husband," to television, Miss Ball insisted that Arnaz be her co-star. But the network wasn't sure that Arnaz would be a hit with the American public. The couple went on a nationwide vaudeville tour and proved that audiences would sit still to watch a leggy, blue-eyed comedian and a Cuban-born band leader with a heavy accent. CBS relented and her antics became comedy classics: Lucy putting too much yeast in the bread, which quickly fills up her kitchen and pins her against the wall; Lucy fighting with a fellow grape-presser in a giant wine-making vat; Lucy rehearsing a commercial for a health tonic and becoming drunk from its alcohol content. The show also revolutionized television sitcom production in the days before videotape. It was filmed in advance before a live audience, employing three cameras instead of the traditional one used for motion pictures. Filming the shows also made them marketable as reruns, and they continue to be seen in more than 80 countries. Despite riches and two children, Lucie and Desi Jr., both of whom became actors, the marriage foundered, and the couple divorced in 1960. Arnaz died in 1986, Miss Vance in 1979 and Frawley in 1966. Photos of Miss Ball's family and television show on Page 2. 
 Lucille Ball, the leggy showgirl, model and B-grade movie queen whose pumpkin hair and genius for comedy made her an icon of television, died early Wednesday, a week after undergoing emergency heart surgery. The co-creator and star of "I Love Lucy," a product of TV's Golden Age that continues via syndication to be viewed by millions around the world, was 77 and died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of a ruptured abdominal aorta. Known simply as "Lucy" to four decades of smitten television fans, she had undergone surgery at Cedars-Sinai on April 18 to replace part of her aorta and aortic valve and had recovered from the 6 1/2-hour operation to a point where she was eating and even walking around her hospital room. Hospital spokesman Ronald Wise said the rupture occurred in a portion of the aorta, the main heart artery, far from where the operation was performed. She suffered a complete heart failure at 5 a.m., and 47 minutes of resuscitation efforts proved fruitless, Wise said. "There was nothing to indicate this would happen," Wise said. "The heart itself apparently was not involved in Miss Ball's sudden death." Since last week's surgery, fans had flooded the hospital with thousands of get-well cards, sent via telegram and even facsimile machine. Hospital officials said it was the largest outpouring they had ever seen. Miss Ball was a tough-talking woman who had used her stardom and show business savvy to become, with her then-husband, the late Desi Arnaz, head of one of Hollywood's major studios, Desilu. Despite her business acumen, she remained the unquestioned queen of television comedy. From her star-struck childhood through her struggles as a wisecracking movie actress in the 1930s and '40s to the television career that made her a legend, Miss Ball's life was in the best show business tradition of rags to riches. Almost humbly, she liked to say she owed her enormous success, not so much to talent, but to a magical combination of guts and good supporting players. Her greatest achievements, she always would add, were not any milestones in her career but ranked somewhere under the birth of her two children, Lucie in 1951 and Desi Jr., two years later. "I am not funny," Ball told an interviewer for Rolling Stone magazine in 1983. "My writers were funny. My directors were funny. The situations were funny. . . . What I am is brave. I have never been scared. Not when I did movies, certainly not when I was a model and not when I did "I Love Lucy." It was "I Love Lucy," which premiered on CBS on Oct. 15, 1951, that earned Miss Ball her niche in television history. The 30-minute comedy starred Miss Ball and the Cuban-born Arnaz as the wacky Lucy Ricardo and her conga-playing husband Ricky. The show was a weekly dash into absurdity that boasted the biggest television audience of its time -- of almost any time. Stopped the Nation In creating the show, Miss Ball and Arnaz -- who died in 1986 -- set a pattern of television that was to be repeated in decades to come. They filmed the programs in front of a live audience and in doing so, invented the popular and financially rewarding rerun. The show was so popular during the 1950s that it literally stopped the nation every Monday night from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. In fact, nighttime shoppers became so scarce in Chicago that the mammoth Marshall Field department store posted a sign that read: "We Love Lucy, too, so from now on we will be open Thursday night instead of Monday." When presidential candidate Adlai E. Stevenson interrupted the show once for a political message, he was flooded with angry mail. Even a charge that Miss Ball was a Communist, made by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, failed to dent her popularity. The charges, based on her registering to vote as a Communist in 1936, were dropped when Miss Ball explained she had done so only to please her ailing grandfather. Millions of sympathetic fans and a pragmatic CBS understood. A phenomenal 40 million viewers watched the antics each week as Lucy would always try to outwit Ricky. With their best friends and landlords, Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by veterans William Frawley and Vivian Vance as the perfect foils, the Ricardos found themselves mired in situations that frequently were rowdy and always ridiculous. A generation of Americans grew to recap their favorite Lucy episodes, plot twist by crazy twist. There was the time Lucy schemed her way onto Ricky's television show to do a commercial for a vegetable drink with a high alcoholic content and got hilariously tipsy during the many retakes. Then there was the time she threw in two packages of yeast while baking homemade bread and ended up pinned against the wall of her Manhattan kitchen by a monster loaf. And there was the time Lucy and Ethel, trying to impress their New York friends with the ultimate souvenir from a trip to Hollywood, pried loose the cement block containing John Wayne's footprints from in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater. Of course, the block broke. Week after week, Lucy would find herself trapped in a vat of laundry starch, locked in a meat freezer, or lost on a subway with a loving cup stuck on her head. Her turmoils permanently positioned her in the hearts of most Americans, including the critics. "An extraordinary discipline and intuitive understanding of farce give 'I Love Lucy' an engaging lilt," wrote New York Times critic Jack Gould. In its Lucy cover story, Time magazine said: "This is the sort of cheerful rowdiness that has been rare. . . . Lucille submits enthusiastically to being hit with pies; falls over furniture. . . . Tricked out as a ballerina or a Hindu maharani or a toothless hillbilly, she takes her assorted lumps and pratfalls with unflagging zest and good humor." In a 1981 interview in The Times, even Miss Ball admitted, "I love Lucy." "There were two key qualities to her," the comedienne said. "She was always in financial trouble -- if she wanted a fur collar, a ratty little fur collar, she had to figure out a way to make some extra money to get it. . . . God, that's universal. And she always had a domineering figure over her. . . . Lucy was forever knocking somebody's top hat off." Miss Ball's personal favorite episodes were filmed when she was pregnant with Desi Jr. An amazing 44 million viewers, 90% of the television audience, gleefully watched on Jan. 19, 1953, when she gave birth on film to the show's little Ricky. To the unabashed delight of a nation, it was the same night she had given birth in real life. "I was so damned happy -- just floating on a cloud -- and I think the way I felt came across on the film," she said. "I loved doing all those pregnant shows." Astoundingly, or so it seems in retrospect, early reviews of Miss Ball's talents gave little hint of what was to come. In fact, when she was a plucky 15-year-old looking for that first break on Broadway, Miss Ball was told by a drama teacher to give up. Luckily, the turquoise-eyed teen-ager ignored the advice. Born to an electrician father and pianist mother on Aug. 6, 1911, in a suburb of Jamestown, N.Y., Miss Ball had set her sights on stardom almost from the first. By 5, the brown-haired little girl was taking music lessons. Each spring that followed she would head toward New York City, walking until someone found her and returned her to her home. Leaving school at 15, Miss Ball finally made it to New York and the John Murray Anderson dramatic school. There was a brief stint in a Ziegfeld Follies road show and some short-lived appearances in a handful of Broadway chorus lines. Changing her name to Diane Belmont ("I always loved the name Diane and I was driving past the Belmont race track, and the names seemed to fit together") she turned to modeling. At various times a dress model and a hat model, Miss Ball, with long legs peeking out the bottom of a oversized cigarette pack, ultimately became a "Chesterfield girl." America grew to know her on billboards, magazine ads and on posters in its drugstore windows. Then in 1933, she headed to Hollywood. Her curly hair bleached a Jean Harlow platinum, Miss Ball was hired to work for six weeks in the chorus of Samuel Goldwyn's "Roman Scandals." Bit part after bit part stretched her stay to six months and she became a Hollywood fixture, taking second billing in the years that followed to everyone from The Three Stooges and Buster Keaton to Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Along the way, she dyed her hair a fiery red and was given the unofficial title of "Queen of the Bs." Reviewers noted her "pert presence" and talent for "rubber-faced slapstick clowning." She was described in one newspaper as a "slangy, breezy wisecracking gal with a bebop rhythm to her walk." Said another, "Pretty Lucille Ball . . . was born for the parts Ginger Rogers sweats over." Playing the ingenue lead in the 1940 musical "Too Many Girls," Miss Ball met rumba singer Arnaz, cast as a Cuban football player. She later told an interviewer, "It was, at least for me, true love from the start." Exchanging vows seven months later, the pair began what was for the most part a troubled marriage. All but three of their first 11 years of marriage were spent apart. With Arnaz traveling the country with his band and Miss Ball committed to Hollywood sound stages, the pair spent almost $30,000 on telegrams and long-distance telephone calls. "We would end up talking on the phone -- no, fighting on the phone," Miss Ball told interviewers. "You can't have a marriage over the phone. You can't have children over the phone. It became obvious that something had to be done." What was done to salvage the marriage was "I Love Lucy." Since CBS was stubbornly opposed to the idea of the heavily accented Arnaz playing the husband, the determined Arnazes created their own Desilu company and took a stage version of their show on the road to gauge public opinion. It was a smash, and television executives reluctantly gave "I Love Lucy" a time slot. "I wanted our characters to have problems," Miss Ball said of her concept for the show. "I wanted to be an average housewife. A very nosy but very average housewife. And I wanted my husband to love me. "CBS thought we were out of our minds to want to do it on film." The episodes were filmed before a live audience by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Karl Freund, famous for his work on such films as "The Good Earth" and Garbo's "Camille." When the Arnazes negotiated to keep the films "to show our kids someday," few in the industry predicted what would happen. "I remember (someone) saying, 'These films may be worth something someday,' " Miss Ball told The Times. "You should hang onto them. If Desi had that in mind, I never knew it. Maybe he knew he was creating the rerun but he never told me about it. All I knew was I was 40 years old and was having my first baby and I didn't want to do these shows and let them disappear into the air. I felt we could save the films for home movies. . . ." Instead, in the years since the original 153 "I Love Lucy" episodes were telecast, they have been shown and reshown in virtually every country around the globe, earning an estimated $50 million to $100 million. Miss Ball's face was one of the most recognized on Earth. But all of it was not enough to save her troubled marriage. To the horror of their television fans, Miss Ball and Arnaz were divorced in 1960. "He (Arnaz) was like Jekyll and Hyde," she said years later. "He drank and he gambled and he went around with other women. It was always the same: booze and broads." Breaking with the past, Miss Ball left Hollywood for New York and a starring role in the musical "Wildcat." The 1960 production floundered after only a few performances but during her stay in the East, she met stand-up comedian Gary Morton. They married in 1961. Meanwhile, Arnaz and Miss Ball had sold their "I Love Lucy" films to CBS for $6 million and she bought her ex-husband's interest in Desilu, becoming in effect, the first woman to head a major studio. It was by then home to 18 shows, including such hits as "The Untouchables" and "The Ann Sothern Show." Friend Bob Hope called her business sense "startling." "I never wanted to be an executive, but when my marriage to Desi broke up after 19 years, I couldn't just walk away from my obligations and say 'forget it,' " Miss Ball explained. "We were an institution. Life takes guts. If you don't take chances, you'll never bathe again because you might get dirty again." Husband Morton said Miss Ball was blessed with an "innate business sense." "When she was running Desilu," he said, "she made decisions affecting the future of the company that often amazed board members, not because they were coming from a woman but because time usually proved her judgment to be correct." Among the shows Miss Ball tutored to success was her own "The Lucy Show," a series without Arnaz but with the same madcap clowning that kept her fans delighted. Among the guest stars attracted by the madness were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the most glittering couple of the day. In 1967, with Desilu churning out a gold mine of televisions hits, "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible" among them, an exhausted Miss Ball decided that she had had enough. Gulf &amp; Western Industries bought the property for a reported $17 million. In place of Desilu, Miss Ball, along with Morton, launched the much smaller Lucille Ball Productions Inc. and in 1968, began filming "Here's Lucy," a series featuring Desi Jr. and Lucie. "My life started when my children were born," Miss Ball said at the time. "I couldn't wait to work with them. . . . Even when they moved out of the house, they were still home at the studio. I liked that." The series aired through 1974. With her children's careers off the launching pad, the comedienne, then 63, decided it was time to retire her legendary character. "The Lucy character is too old to run around like an idiot," she said in explanation. That same year, she filmed her final motion picture, "Mame," a version of the Broadway musical. Although by now the world's best-known television star, as a movie star Miss Ball again received mixed reviews. Times critic Charles Champlin wrote, "The shame about 'Mame' is that it managed to deny us a Lucy to love." With those final starring credits to her name, she settled into co-producing shows, making occasional television appearances and accepting one after another of a continual barrage of awards and tributes. In addition to her 13 Emmy nominations (she won four), Miss Ball was feted in 1976 with a nostalgic television tribute saluting the 25th anniversary of "I Love Lucy." Danny Kaye was among those who gave testimonials during the two hours of reminiscing. "Calling Lucille Ball just a comedienne is like calling Margot Fonteyn just a dancer," Kaye said. In 1984, when she was named one of seven initial inductees in the Television Hall of Fame, she credited the many "talented and creative people" around her for making her a legend. "I have been absolutely blessed," Miss Ball said. Role as Bag Lady The following year she took on one of the most challenging roles of her career: a bag lady in the television movie "Stone Pillow." She was hospitalized for dehydration when it was over, but it was a critical and ratings success. Her last flirtation with television came with her ill-fated and short-lived 1986 series, "Life With Lucy," in which she again teamed with longtime sidekick Gale Gordon. It was quickly pulled by the network because of abysmal ratings. Her final public appearance proved to be during the 61st annual Academy Awards ceremony on March 29 when she joined her old friend Hope as a presenter. She had signed a contract with Putnam to publish her autobiography but died before she could begin work on it. Tearfully sentimental when it came to her husband and family, she reveled in life as a grandmother and glowed whenever she talked of her children. Their struggles and early failed marriages seemed not to matter. While she always spoke fondly of Arnaz, Miss Ball claimed that she had found the perfect mate in Morton. "He (Morton) takes care of me like I was his mother," she told an interviewer in 1981. "Gary gives me protection." On a scale of 1 to 10, Miss Ball said, "I rate my marriage to Gary a 12." But to her countless television fans -- from the postwar babies who adored her during the '50s to their children and children's children who roared at her antics through decades of reruns -- it was always Lucy and Ricky. More than a quarter-century of marriage to Morton could not erase that. There was always the hilarious image of the redhead and "that Cuban bongo player," as Miss Ball affectionately called him. Even years after the Lucy shows ended, the comedienne openly admitted to missing the characterization. "After Lucy ended, I thought, 'I'll live a few more years and then I'll die," she said in 1983. "I didn't plan on living this long. . . . Now I miss her. . . ." Related Stories: Page 3 and Calendar, Page 1 
 Presidents, famous actors, television executives, neighbors and tourists all had their memories. Some had known her; most had not. In form their sentiments ranged from flowers to telegrams to hand-lettered signs. Through them all ran a single, constant thread. They all said they loved Lucy, and they'll miss her. From former President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan: "Lucille Ball was a gifted comedienne who brought laughter to millions the world over. Her red hair, her antics on the screen, her timing and her zest for life made her an American institution." Reagan's successor extended his "deepest sympathy" to Miss Ball's family and called her a "legendary figure." "We too loved Lucy. So did the world," President Bush said in a statement. Lucille Ball had last appeared in public in March at the Academy Awards ceremony. Her co-presenter was Bob Hope, who a few hours after her death said simply, "God has her now, but thanks to television, we'll have her forever." The scene on North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills where Miss Ball spent her last and what she said were her happiest years was one of curiousity coupled with genuine mourning. About 20 people gathered on the sidewalk, some snapping photographs of the home and of the dozen television crews standing outside. Andy Stern, a neighbor, said that the large white house surrounded by snapdragons and bougainvillea was the most popular of all the homes on the Hollywood Stars' tours: "They (the buses) stop at her house more than any other." Another neighbor, Bob Rosati, said he was watching a rerun of "I Love Lucy" when the screen went black and the words "In Memory of Lucille Ball, 1911-1989" appeared. "I felt I had lost someone in my family," he said. Karen Pope, who described herself as an aspiring actress, drove from her Los Angeles home with a little container of flowers and a sign that read: "Lucy is seen in the smile of everyone's eyes." She left them with a guard at Miss Ball's home, turned away and said quietly: "She's touched all of us. She's not gone. She's just playing to a larger audience." Many of the people outside the house were like Karen Mestichelli from Philadelphia, a tourist who had purchased a map to the neighborhoods where many of the entertainment greats live. "This is the first house we stopped at," she said. "I loved her. She was good." In Paris, entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. called Miss Ball a "great artist -- one of the world's greatest clowns." In Boston, comedian Lily Tomlin said: "It's a sad day for me. She was a great role model for me and a great funny woman." Comedian George Burns, another friend of many years, said, "As long as the world goes on, Lucy will be seen." Burns likened Miss Ball's death to that of his wife, Gracie Allen. "When Gracie died, it was a shock to me," he said. "This is a shock. Lucy and Gracie had one quality exactly alike. They both dressed like ladies and were very feminine." Television and film actor Danny DeVito recalled getting a personal congratulation from Miss Ball in 1981 when he won an Emmy for his work on the TV series "Taxi." "It made it like it had been blessed," he recalled. "To baby boomers, a happy chunk of our childhood is missing," said "Saturday Night Live" comedian Victoria Jackson, who was born two years after the "I Love Lucy" show went off the air as a regular series. "She didn't make me laugh out loud, I remember, she just made me happy about life." From William S. Paley, chairman of CBS Inc., where "I Loved Lucy" reigned for all those years: "Lucille Ball will always be the first lady of CBS. With 'I Love Lucy,' she helped establish television as the nation's leading entertainment medium. Lucy's extraordinary ability to light up the screen and brighten our lives is a legacy that will last forever." And then there were those at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she died. They had admired her as a celebrity for years but known her as a person for only days. A bouquet of red roses had been left in front of the center's north tower and calls were coming in from all over the world. "The telephone is ringing off the hook. People crying on the phone," said hospital spokeswoman Paula Correia. "It's a massive outpouring of grief from all ages." Maureen LaMour, a hospital admittance representative, said she heard the news of Miss Ball's death on her way to work. "We (the staff) always kept in touch with how she was doing and kept up with all the gifts and cards she received, because it was like they were for a family member," she said. "Everyone has grown up with her. Our children have grown up with her. She's a legend. It's like losing a friend, a family member, instead of a celebrity." Staff writer Burt A. Folkart contributed to this article. 
 Lucille Ball, whose death Wednesday morning at the age of 77 will be the most widely and deeply felt show-business loss in recent memory, was the movies' greatest gift to television. It turned out to be one of Sam Goldwyn's finest and most prophetic hours when he signed her as one of his Goldwyn Girls to appear in "Roman Scandals" with Eddie Cantor in 1933. She had had bit parts in two earlier films but "Roman Scandals" was the one that gave her a firmer foothold on the slippery slopes of a Hollywood career. The movies prepared her for television. She perfected her matchless craft as a comedienne in dozens of films, including three of Fred Astaire's and one of the Marx Brothers ("Room Service"). A lot of the other films caused few ripples on the wide surface of film history. But in those years Lucy was refining her enduring, endearing public image as a perky, saucy woman who was likelier (at least in the early days) to end up with the hero's funny pal than with the hero himself. Yet as often happened with supporting performers, her verve, an engagingly sharp tongue and a rather salty view of the world made her more interesting than the square-cut principals, and led to leading roles. To look at the "I Love Lucy" reruns today, as everybody does, again and again, is to realize how superbly professional they are. Today many sitcoms still use the three-camera technique, shooting in front of live audiences, that Desi Arnaz pioneered. The idea now seems as inevitable as the wheel or pre-sliced muffins, and yet you wonder if it would have worked nearly as well or caught on at all without Lucy's sheer expertise as a physical as well as a verbal comedienne. She made it all -- even the wildest, craziest capers -- look as if it were happening now -- spontaneous, unrehearsed, accidental, the inevitable consequences of the screen Lucy's scatterbrained and lovable personality. Her foils -- Desi himself, Vivian Vance and William Frawley -- were superb farceurs themselves, but Lucy was the dynamo that made it all work. The craft was invisible, the skills so perfected they concealed themselves totally. It was a brilliant illusion, generating a charm that hid the hard work and the artful writing and editing as well as the performing. The result was probably the finest and certainly the most durable single series in television's history thus far. The appeal of the Lucy shows was also the most universal that American television has yet provided. They were wholly, prototypically American, and that is central to their popularity abroad. Yet they have been embraced as the kind of middle-class goings-on that might possibly arise almost anywhere there is a middle class. Lucy was all-American but, equally, a citizen of the world. Her successful career in films, in which she ultimately earned star billing if not superstar status, gave her an invaluable identification when "I Love Lucy" began. The irony is that, created by the movies, she was to achieve fame and fortune in television on a scale that had eluded her in the movies. Indeed, when Lucy began to commandeer our hearts on "I Love Lucy" in 1951, the movies were already in considerable trouble, their audiences staying home in large numbers to watch the likes of Lucy in their living rooms. As always, her timing was impeccable. Lucille Ball was not Lucy, of course. She had come a hard road from Jamestown, N.Y., in a line of work in which you did not survive by being scatterbrained. She was smart, hard-working and a perfectionist who knew that whatever else it was, comedy was not accidental. Then again, the cameras, television or film, have X-ray properties, and the millions who saw and loved her were not wrong to think they perceived a generous and loving woman, as well as a glorious clown who knew the world was better off laughing. 
 Soviet human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov said Sunday that his country is on the brink of economic catastrophe because reforms of the old centralized system are too slow in arriving. While praising the new course in world affairs taken by the Soviet Union, as demonstrated by its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sakharov told the congress of the Italian Socialist Party that some aspects of internal affairs are "deeply disturbing." "We all know about the serious economic situation which can only get worse. The budget deficit has reached astronomical proportions of more than 100 billion rubles ($160 billion). Economic reforms are proceeding slower and slower and people are losing interest in them because they can't buy anything. "The old centralized system is being dismantled, and that is right. But the trouble is that it is not being replaced by anything new. We can say that the country is on the brink of an economic catastrophe." Sakharov, who did not mention the name of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, described as "anti-democratic" some measures taken to quell nationalist unrest, particularly the toxic gas believed to have been used against demonstrators in Soviet Georgia earlier this year. The physicist also attacked new legislation on personal responsibility now under consideration in Moscow. He said the laws could restrict freedom of speech. Speaking in Russian without notes, he said the new laws were supposed to take the place of measures used against dissidents like himself in the 1970s and 1980s. Sakharov was elected in April to the new Soviet Congress of People's Deputies, just two years after he was released from seven years of internal exile. 
 President Corazon Aquino said Friday that for security reasons she would not permit deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos to be buried in the Philippines. Marcos was reported to be in "very critical condition" in Honolulu, where he has lived in exile since his ouster in 1986. Hospital officials there said that he rallied slightly Friday but remained in extremely critical condition. The 71-year-old former president has been suffering from heart, lung and kidney disorders as well as pneumonia. His frail body attached to a respirator and a hemodialysis blood-cleansing machine, Marcos is unconscious most of the time but occasionally shows faint signs of life, doctors in Hawaii said. Medical sources said that he is being treated with antibiotics and heart medication but that he could die at "any time." Radio stations here broadcast hourly reports on Marcos' condition. Philippine officials were asked repeatedly whether the Aquino government's refusal to allow Marcos to return to the country would remain in effect after his death. One radio station broadcast an interview with Marcos' wife, Imelda, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu, where she was said to be maintaining a vigil at his bedside. She was quoted as appealing to Aquino to "open her heart" and allow Marcos to return to the Philippines. Aquino said she would not alter her position but that she had prayed for Marcos' recovery. "I regret to inform Mrs. Marcos that as much as I agree that Mr. Marcos has his rights, I still have to consider also the rights and the interests of millions of Filipinos," Aquino told reporters at the presidential palace. "I have said . . . in the past that we will not allow his remains to be brought back here, and we have already taken plans to avoid any untoward incident." Nonetheless, Marcos supporters announced that they will march through the capital today to support the former president's demand that he be allowed to die in the Philippines. Despite charges that Marcos and his inner circle looted the government treasury of billions of dollars, the former president still has a significant following here. In the Philippines, personal loyalty is considered a sacred debt. Attempted Coups Government officials have accused Marcos supporters of taking part in at least two attempted coups against the Aquino government. Aquino evidently is concerned that even after death, the return of Marcos' remains could spark violence or galvanize opposition to her government. Aquino's national security adviser, Rafael Ileto, told reporters Friday that the Philippine army is prepared for any emergency that might be provoked by the death of the former president. He was quoted as saying that while Marcos is no longer a threat to the government, his supporters "can still cause disruption." Marcos' mother, Josefa, died a year ago, but because Marcos has been barred from this country, the family refuses to have her remains interred. A newspaper advertisement published on the first anniversary of her death May 4 said, "funeral arrangements will be announced." Marcos and his wife have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States on charges of racketeering, fraud and extortion. Marcos has been excused from appearing in court up to now because of his failing health. Imelda Marcos is free on $5 million bail. Times staff writer Ron Harris, in Honolulu, contributed to this story. 
 British media entrepreneur Robert Maxwell said Monday that he is involved in negotiations to buy a U.S. newspaper valued "in the hundreds of millions of dollars." Maxwell declined to identify the newspaper, but his comments prompted industry speculation that it might be Gannett's USA Today, Tribune Co.'s New York Daily News or the Chicago Sun-Times. Officials of each of those newspapers denied that they were negotiating with Maxwell. Maxwell's comments were made to reporters at the annual meeting in New York of Maxwell's Berlitz International and were confirmed later by a spokesman for Maxwell Communications, the investor's London-based holding company. The spokesman declined to elaborate on the remarks, and said Maxwell had left the United States. The Daily News has one of the United States' largest circulations, but in recent years it has struggled to restore profitability and maintain circulation in a market with three other dailies. The paper is conducting difficult labor contract negotiations with its unions. Some analysts said it might make sense for Maxwell to try to purchase USA Today, since it would mesh well with his efforts to print and distribute his month-old "pan-European" English-language paper, The European, in this country. Maxwell has already been in negotiations with USA Today officials about printing the paper for U.S. distribution. Other industry officials conjectured that Maxwell might be talking to the Chicago Sun-Times, which has seen daily circulation slide more than 100,000 papers, to about 533,000, since 1985. Maxwell, who publishes Britain's Daily Mirror, recently bought three U.S. supermarket tabloids, the Globe, National Examiner and the Sun, for an estimated $100 million. 
 A flash flood sent a wall of water 15 to 20 feet high rampaging through hill communities along the Ohio River, killing at least 10 people and leaving dozens missing, authorities said today. Two creeks just outside this Ohio River village of 4,300 residents overflowed when thunderstorms dumped about 4 inches of rain Thursday night in about an hour. "It created a wall of water," said Jim Williams of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. "The problem we're having right now is accounting for the people we can't find." Williams said 40 to 60 people were unaccounted for at midday. Belmont County's sheriff's Sgt. Bart Giesey said 10 people were confirmed dead. Gov. Richard F. Celeste declared a state of emergency and surveyed the area. The raging waters knocked homes off their foundations and washed away a bar filled with people in Shadyside, an Appalachian foothill town. The Shadyside Fire Department set up a command center at the Jefferson Elementary School to coordinate rescue efforts. Command center spokeswoman Karen Bovek said officials had no complete death toll figure. Authorities were searching for victims in rural areas. "You're talking miles and miles of country roads that haven't been gotten to yet," she said. "It's a disaster here." Shadyside -- about 10 miles south of Wheeling, W.Va. -- is in Belmont County, a mostly hilly, rural area in eastern Ohio. Acting Mayor James Amato said the storms created a deluge that knocked homes off their foundations. "There are a lot of trailers out in this area that got hit," he said. Belmont County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Judy Phillips said a Shadyside bar full of people was washed away when water caved in the back wall. Two people were accounted for, she said. But she could offer no estimate of how many were in the bar. Shadyside Fire Chief Mark Badia said rescuers pulled people from three cars in Wegee Creek, which flows through Shadyside and into the Ohio River. "I don't know how to describe it . . . you've got to see it to believe it," Badia said. There also was flooding in Jefferson County, north of Belmont, and Licking County in central Ohio. About 200 residents were evacuated from their homes in central Ohio after 3 inches of rain fell in an hour, flooding streets and washing out rural roads. 
 The death toll from flash floods that swept through a rural area of eastern Ohio increased to 19 Sunday as searchers dug along two creeks and dived into the Ohio River. Eighteen people remained missing. Workers used shovels and picks to dig along the creek banks, and sifted through debris at places marked with red flags, where search dogs indicated they had detected human scents, National Guard Capt. Jim Boling said. Divers worked where the two creeks empty into the Ohio. One body was found Sunday in debris along Wegee Creek, about three miles from where it meets the river, said Belmont County coroner's investigator Chuck Vogt. Another was pulled from the Ohio near a bridge at Moundsville, W. Va., about 10 miles south of Shadyside, he said. The body of a man was found Sunday afternoon in the Ohio River, a half-mile south of the mouth of Wegee Creek and about seven miles south of Shadyside, Vogt said. That brought the confirmed death toll in Thursday's floods to 19, including five children. Twenty-three dog teams from four states were searching for victims. The digging will continue at least through Tuesday, Fire Chief Mark Badia said. "The thing you find once you start into these brush piles and piles of trees are cars, and they have to be torn apart and searched separately," Badia said. "Everything you turn up creates a different situation." Vogt said he doubted many of the missing would be found alive. "It's just been too long. I don't think there's anybody alive out there," he said. "You can't swim out there that long in the Ohio River." The Wegee and Pipe creeks overflowed Thursday night during storms that poured 5 1/2 inches of rain onto eastern Ohio in 3 1/2 hours. The floods destroyed as many as 70 houses and damaged up to 40 others. Authorities said Friday that 60 people were missing; some of those were later found dead, while others notified authorities that they were safe. Officials also learned that some of those feared missing had moved out of the area. Officials were comparing county property lists and data from the Census Bureau with information from residents and relatives, Boling said. That left 18 still missing, Vogt said. The list was not revised to account for the third body found Sunday afternoon because the man had not been identified. Investigators Sunday blamed the flash floods on an unusually heavy rainstorm that overwhelmed the designed flow capacities of three bridges over the creeks. Badia said rainwater running down hillsides forced debris into the creeks, forming dams at each bridge. The "dams" broke under the water pressure. "Eventually the bridges couldn't hold any more. The debris broke loose, and that's when we got three big gushes of water," he said. As rescue efforts continued, the National Guard cleared roads and bridges leading into the stricken area. Eighteen Ohio counties have been declared federal disaster areas since tornadoes and flooding first struck May 25. 
 Iranian news media reacted with little emotion Thursday to a killer earthquake that left an estimated 25,000 people dead in northern Iran. The country has endured several massive tragedies in recent years. An estimated 1 million Iranians were killed or wounded in the eight-year war with Iraq that ended in 1988. And the Islamic revolution that in 1979 toppled the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And devastating quakes are not new to the country. About 25,000 people died in eastern Iran in a 1978 earthquake. Roughly the same number died in a December, 1988, quake in nearby Soviet Armenia. The Iranian media, monitored from Nicosia, was quick to report Thursday's earthquake. Within half an hour, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the tremor had been felt in Tehran, the capital. But subsequent reports, some a few minutes apart, said the damage must have been principally to crops, with brief mentions that many casualties were feared in Zanjan and Gilan provinces. The only detail reported for hours was that, when the quake hit, Tehran residents were either asleep or watching a World Cup soccer match between Brazil and Scotland. The report said that many people fled into the streets. In addition, the news agency's earliest reports dramatically underestimated the magnitude of the disaster. While IRNA reported 10,000 dead late Thursday, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations said 25,000 people had died. Official radio was off the air when the earthquake struck, and although it came back on the air to report important news during the Iran-Iraq War, there was no such move Thursday. Iranian radio first reported the earthquake on the main newscast 6 1/2 hours later. The radio, like the agency, also kept listeners informed about the areas hit and the number of casualties. But again, the reporting lacked color and description for hours. The television's first shots from the stricken north were screened 12 hours after the quake with no comment from reporters. When the scenes were replayed during newscasts, the anchors appeared unshaken by chilling clips such as one showing a stuffed toy and a small shoe lying in a street carpeted with debris. Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani declared a three-day period of mourning for quake victims. But the television showed cartoons and an educational program for children and ended its programming with live transmission of a World Cup soccer match between Egypt and England. 
 Iran said today that it would welcome relief offered by its bitter enemy, the United States, to help victims of the earthquake that has killed as many as 35,000 people, the State Department said in Washington. The aid would be accepted through the American Red Cross and other U.S. humanitarian organizations, deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We want to be helpful without regard for our political differences with Iran," he said. There have been only rare instances of U.S.-Iranian cooperation since the two countries broke diplomatic relations a decade ago. The United States holds Iran partly responsible for the continued detention of American hostages by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. Boucher said Iran told the U.S. government that private donor agencies should contact the Iranian Red Crescent, a humanitarian group that is the conduit for all outside assistance. The U.S. government routinely channels humanitarian assistance through the Red Cross and other donor groups. Boucher said the Iranian message to the United States presumably was delivered through a third party but added that he was uncertain. Messages between the two countries normally are handled by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. Iranian authorities have told United Nations officials that about 35,000 people died in the earthquake. Iran reportedly said it would accept aid from all countries -- including Iraq -- but excluded Israel and South Africa. Rescuers in Iran today freed thousands of people from buildings flattened by the earthquake in northern Iran, which struck early Thursday and had a magnitude between 7.3 and 7.7. The Islamic Republic News Agency said 6,000 people were pulled from rubble and airlifted from the stricken Gilan and Zanjan provinces to hospitals. Iranian television showed scenes of devastation, including the remains of an entire row of hillside village houses that collapsed and slid down the hill. Rescuers scooped up rubble and used police dogs to find victims. They gently fed water to one man who was trapped in a mass of stones and earth, only his head protruding. The Iranian Red Crescent asked for help in providing shelter for 400,000 people left homeless by the earthquake. Offers of help came from across the globe. The death toll was higher than a quake that killed 25,000 people in nearby Soviet Armenia in December, 1988, and a quake in Iran in 1978 that also killed 25,000. In scenes shown on television, masked rescuers in white aprons pulled dust-covered bodies from under concrete slabs. Corpses were laid on blocks of ice in open trucks. The state-run television interviewed one middle-aged man from Roodbar, a mountainside village in Gilan province, who said he was sleeping when the temblor struck. "It was so strong," he said. "I was thrown several meters, I ended up by the olive trees," outside his home. "Then a big boulder hit the house. The house collapsed. I lost all four of my children." * Photos of Iran's devastating earthquake. See Back Page 
 Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall border post that symbolized the Cold War, was hoisted into history today. As a brass band played and foreign ministers of the four World War II allies watched, a crane lifted the prefabricated hut with its American, British and French flags and placed it on a flatbed truck to be taken to a museum. Checkpoint Charlie went up in 1961 in the middle of the Friedrichstrasse boulevard after Communist East Germany erected the Berlin Wall to choke off a flood of refugees to the enclave of West Berlin. "The checkpoint symbolized our conviction as allies that Berlin should remain one city and travel within it should be free," British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said in a speech. "We always hoped that one day Checkpoint Charlie would no longer be needed, and now that day has arrived. At long last, we are bringing Charlie in from the cold," he added. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze attended the ceremony in a gesture of reconciliation with the Western members of the wartime alliance: Britain, France and the United States. Shevardnadze, the first Soviet foreign minister to visit West Berlin, noted that the checkpoint was vanishing on the 49th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. "The closing of this checkpoint offers further proof of a turn for the better in the international arena, for overcoming the legacy of confrontation," he said. Foreign ministers Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany and Markus Meckel of East Germany also attended the ceremony. Genscher thanked Moscow for reform policies that had ended "a time of trouble" in Berlin and opened the door to unity. Hundreds of excited Berliners leaned from balconies and windows today to cheer Charlie's exit, snapping pictures and clapping in rhythm with the band as the crane pried the hut from its moorings and swung it away. Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who emotionally challenged the building of the wall as mayor of West Berlin in the early 1960s, was in the front row of an invited audience. Afterward, souvenir hunters ran up and snatched cobblestones that had served as Checkpoint Charlie's foundation. 
 Shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, San Diego resident Mohammad Nyakoui got a call from his wife, who is spending the summer in the Caspian Sea coastal city of Rasht, Iran, with her family. "I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was watching the World Cup," Nyakoui recalls. About 15 minutes after she hung up, Rasht and other cities in Iran's northern region were rocked by an earthquake that killed thousands. Back home in San Diego, it was several hours before Nyakoui even heard news of the quake. When he did, some quick time-zone arithmetic showed that he had talked to his wife just minutes before the quake happened. "I was very worried," Nyakoui said. "I tried through the Red Cross to call Iran, but they told us they couldn't do anything before 48 hours passed." One of about 25,000 San Diego Iranians in the same anxious state, Nyakoui was luckier than most: His wife managed to call him a second time that day, about eight hours after the quake, to tell him she and their two children were safe. Phone lines remained jammed Friday, other Iranian-Americans in San Diego said. "There's a sense of panic. It's just impossible to get through," said Houshang Ghashghai, who teaches political science at San Diego State University. Already though, some of the worried immigrants were turning their fear into action by mobilizing relief efforts for Iran. Hamid Biglari, a theoretical physicist at UC San Diego, was among those who organized a local group to gather contributions for the United Nations Fund for the Iran Earthquake. The group has set up two offices and phone lines. They are collecting medicine, food and a variety of living supplies, including blankets, light clothing and flashlights. The supplies will be transported by the United Nations, Biglari said. Another group gathering medical supplies is Southwest Medical Teams, an organization whose last major international effort was sending volunteers and medical supplies to Armenia after the 1988 quake there. Southwest Medical Teams won't be sending any volunteers this time, said director Barry La Forgia. "That's at the advice of the State Department. They couldn't ensure our safety over there, and we don't want to endanger any of our volunteers," La Forgia said. WHERE TO SEND AID Donations for Iranian earthquake relief are being taken in San Diego by two groups: United Nations Fund for the Iran Earthquake (467-1120 or 456-4000) -- Collecting antibiotic and analgesic drugs, collapsible plastic water containers, plastic sheeting, 220-volt portable generators of less than 10 kilowatts, tents, blankets, dry food, light clothing, flashlights and lighting equipment. Bring items or mail checks to 4540 Kearny Villa Road, Suite 214, San Diego 92123; or to 7509 Girard Ave., Suite A, La Jolla 92037. Checks should be made out to the U.N. Fund for the Iran Earthquake. Southwest Medical Teams (284-7979) -- Through Thursday, collecting sutures, surgical gloves, antibiotics, analgesics (including aspirin), vitamins, ophthalmic solutions and empty blood collection bags. Shipment will be sent July 2. Cash donations will be used to pay to fly the supplies to Iran. Mail checks to 3547 Camino del Rio South, Suite C, San Diego 92108, noting that donation is for Iranian Earthquake Relief Fund. Other agencies accepting donations for Iranian earthquake victims: Adventist Development and Relief Agency 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, Md. 20904 (301) 680-6380 American Red Cross Iran Earthquake Disaster P.O. Box 37243 Washington, D.C. 20013 (800) 842-2200 Bank Melli Iran Iran Quake Relief Assistance Account No. 5000 628 Madison Ave. New York, N.Y. 10022 U.S. Committee for UNICEF 333 E. 38th St. New York, N.Y. 10016 (212) 686-5522 
 Setting aside years of animosity, the U.S. government joined with private humanitarian groups Friday to funnel medicine, tents, clothing, food and other relief materials to help earthquake-stricken Iran. State Department officials said the government gave $300,000 worth of supplies to the American Red Cross for shipment to Iran -- including 1,000 hard hats, 1,000 pairs of leather gloves, 10,000 face masks, 2,940 wool blankets and about 500 tents. The U.S. military, which often is used to ferry relief supplies to countries in need, stood ready to offer transport planes and logistics support for any U.S. aid requested by Iran. However, a Pentagon official said it is unlikely that the State Department and the White House would authorize a military airlift of supplies. "It's pretty clear that the Iranians don't want us, and there are so many alternatives, such as private charters, it really isn't necessary," the officials said. "In a case like this, we would really be more of an irritant than a help." The quake, which rocked the northern region of Iran early Thursday, left nearly 29,000 dead, by official count, and about 400,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise, however, as rescuers continue work. Late Thursday, the Iranian Red Crescent appealed for help from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, a Geneva-based umbrella for international humanitarian organizations. Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who toured the stricken region Friday, also appealed for international aid. Pat Davis, a spokesman for the American Red Cross in Washington, said Friday that although the Red Crescent is highly organized and well equipped, the large number of dead and suffering people has forced the Iranian agency to solicit international assistance. The American Red Cross responded by mobilizing its local offices to solicit money, informing its toll-free telephone operators to request earmarked donations for the earthquake victims and sending $50,000 in cash to the Red Crescent Society to be used to help needy Iranians. Some Jewish relief organizations found themselves in an uncomfortable position because of Iran's hostility toward the United States and Israel. Confronted with reports that Iran would not welcome assistance from Israel, the groups were uncertain whether they should offer any assistance. Andy Griffel, executive director of American Jewish World Service, said directors of the assistance organization participated in a conference call Friday morning to debate whether to collect money for the Iranian victims. After a spirited discussion, the group decided to help but to monitor the situation closely and to be prepared to change their decision. "We're a humanitarian organization . . . without regard to political considerations," Griffel said. "But if they are going politicize it, we will definitely reconsider our participation." Amir Zamani, a spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations, welcomed the "many offers from many organizations" that his office has received. "Iran needs assistance, and such organizations are welcome to send it." Acknowledging Iran's strained relations with many nations, Zamani said his country is attempting to ease the antagonism to deal with the disaster in the country. As an example, he said "no formalities" will be required for relief planes flying into Iran. He added, however, that aid shipments will be coordinated by the government and routed through Tehran because there are no other airports in the country that can accommodate large transport planes. Meanwhile, other U.S. groups were rushing to supply Iran with emergency goods. Dwain Schenck, a relief worker for AmeriCares Foundation, said the Connecticut-based relief group expects to send 80,000 pounds of medical supplies, two doctors, a nurse and about half a dozen relief workers to Iran today. "We hope to be there about four days or so," he said. Times staff writer Charles J. Hartley contributed to this report. WHERE TO SEND AID Here are some of the agencies accepting donations for Iranian earthquake victims: Adventist Development and Relief Agency 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, Md. 20904 (301) 680-6380 American Jewish World Service 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 11th Floor New York, N.Y. 10104 American Red Cross Iran Earthquake Disaster P.O. Box 37243 Washington, D.C. 20013 (800) 842-2200 American Red Cross (local) 2700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90057 AmeriCares 161 Cherry St. New Canaan, Conn. 06840 (800) 486-HELP Baptist World Alliance Iran Earthquake Fund 6733 Curran St. McLean, Va. 22101 Direct Relief International 2801-B De La Vina St. Santa Barbara, Calif. 93105 (805) 687-3694 Bank Melli Iran Iran Quake Relief Assistance Account No. 5000 628 Madison Ave. New York, N.Y. 10022 Bank Melli Iran (local) 818 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90017) Lutheran World Relief 390 Park Ave. S New York, N.Y. 10016 U.S. Committee for UNICEF 333 E. 38th St. New York, N.Y. 10016 (212) 686-5522 World Concern P.O. Box 33000 Seattle, Wash. 98133 World Vision 919 W. Huntington Drive Monrovia, Calif. 91016 (818) 357-7979 
 Trucks carried aid into earthquake-stricken Iran on Saturday from Soviet Azerbaijan, which observed a day of mourning for victims, the official Tass news agency said. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent his condolences to the Iranian leadership, and the Soviet Red Cross dispatched a plane carrying rescue workers and aid. In his message to Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, Gorbachev expressed his "deep condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the earthquake." A report by Tass from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku said an official day of mourning was declared in the mainly Muslim republic and that black ribbons hung from public buildings in the city. A column of trucks carrying 100 doctors, 10,000 tons of food, clothing and equipment such as welding gear left the town of Nakhicheva near the border. Tass said people in Azerbaijan, many of whom are Shiite Muslims who feel a kinship with people of their faith in Iran, poured money into a public fund for earthquake victims. Other volunteers donated blood, it said. A Soviet Red Cross official said a plane left Moscow carrying relief aid, nine doctors and rescue workers. In December, 1988, a powerful earthquake killed 25,000 people in Soviet Armenia, which borders Azerbaijan. Also on Saturday, aid continued to pour into Iran from other parts of the world. A 205-member French relief team arrived Friday night, according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). West Germany said it was sending 200 tents and 3,200 blankets, to be followed by 100 tons of similar supplies. Jordan and Kuwait also said they are sending planeloads of relief aid. The European Community has granted $1.2 million in emergency aid, and Japan is reportedly sending between $500,000 and $1 million in cash as well as a 22-member medical and rescue squad. The United States on Friday sent $300,000 worth of relief supplies through the American Red Cross and is planning more aid, State Department officials said. Pope John Paul II was "very saddened" by the earthquake and has donated personal funds to help victims of the disaster, the Vatican said. Spokesman Joaquin Navarro did not specify the amount, but in the past the Pope has sent as much as $100,000 for disaster relief from his personal funds. Other assistance reportedly was due from Holland, Turkey, Greece, Pakistan, Belgium, Finland, India, Bangladesh, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Kuwait and several other nations. Iranian officials have said they would welcome aid from all countries except Israel and South Africa. However, Egyptian officials in Cairo said Iran rejected an Egyptian offer to send a planeload of medical supplies. A source at the Foreign Ministry said Iran rejected the supplies, saying it needed heavy equipment. 
 Orange County's Iranian community launched an ambitious effort Sunday to collect half a million dollars in money, medicine, tents, blankets and sleeping bags for hundreds of thousands of injured and homeless people in earthquake-ravaged Iran. Representatives of 11 Iranian professional and community groups manned tables near William R. Mason Regional Park, where contributors dropped off supplies, pledged other aid or made financial contributions. Organizers said they hope to raise at least $500,000 in donations. "We'll do this as long as it takes," said organizer Bijan Kian. "We will be back here again next Sunday. I have been in contact with a group that raised $150,000 (Saturday) by telephoning from home to home. This is from their friends and relatives. I'm sure we can double and triple that." The 50 organizers Sunday wore black armbands expressing their grief for those killed, injured and left homeless in what they described as that country's worst earthquake of the century. In Iran, rescue efforts were hampered Sunday as the strongest aftershock yet jarred the already severely damaged rice-growing region of Rasht, 120 miles northwest of Tehran. The new shock, with a magnitude of 5.7, toppled the few still-standing structures and caused mudslides that temporarily closed the road linking Rasht with other destruction zones in Zanjan province. Estimates of the number killed in the devastating quake reached 50,000, with an additional 200,000 injured. Army mountaineers climbed rugged mountains Sunday in an effort to rescue villagers trapped in remote hamlets in the ravaged northern provinces. "They have no water or electricity," said Farrokh Shokooh, another organizer of the Sunday fund-raiser. "Everything is made that much more difficult because it is the rainy season." Shokooh said the effort to help the earthquake victims was put together hastily Friday afternoon. The group set up the collection point in front of William R. Mason Regional Park on property belonging to the City of Irvine. Irvine Police Sgt. Tom Hume, who is in charge of policing special events held in the city, said the group failed to obtain a permit from the city. But police accommodated the group, blocking off a bike lane on University Avenue so cars could pull in and unload supplies for the earthquake victims. The supplies were put into a large truck parked along the road. Hume said that two officers assigned to the event reported the crowd as small. Organizer Genia Panahi, 40, of Newport Beach, said the 150 Iranian doctors practicing in Orange County responded to calls for medicine, surgical gloves, disposable needles and blood bags. Organizers said between 60,000 and 80,000 Iranians live in Orange County. "Medicine is in such a short supply over there," said Panahi, who along with her husband is a medical doctor. "Doctors are being asked to donate needles, gloves and antibiotics." Her 17-year-old son, Homan, and his friend Sepehr Khonsari worked throughout the day Saturday collecting medical supplies from doctors' offices throughout the county. The group -- the Orange County Committee for Iran Earthquake Relief -- has set up a special account at Capital Bank in Santa Ana. Checks can be made out to the Iran Earthquake Fund and mailed to the bank at 400 N. Tustin Ave. Blankets, tents and sleeping bags can be delivered to the Iranian Cultural Center at 8361 Westminster Blvd., Suite 220, in Westminster. Kian said money sent to the special Capital Bank account will be turned over to the Red Cross for distribution in Iran. Red Cross representative Sylvia Stewart said the Red Cross will accept only monetary contributions because shipping supplies there is very expensive. She said sending money and allowing the supplies to be purchased there "helps stimulate the economy." She said the donations are sent to the national Red Cross and then to the international organization. The Iranian Student Assn. at California State Fullerton has set up a booth in Parking Lot C near State College Boulevard and Nutwood Avenue. The donations will be forwarded to the Red Cross or they may be sent directly to the Red Cross, P.O. Box 11364, Santa Ana, CA. 92711-1364. 
 Writer Salman Rushdie, who has been sentenced to die by Iranian zealots, has donated $8,600 to victims of last week's devastating earthquake in Iran. Iran said today his death order still stands. Rushdie donated the money to the Independent Iranian Earthquake Appeal, organized by the Independent newspaper to help survivors of the earthquake that Iranian officials said left at least 50,000 people dead. "I wanted to join the Independent and the hostage families and many other people in their appeal for contributions toward the needs of the Iranian earthquake victims," Rushdie said in a message delivered from his hiding place. "It's quite clear that at the moment, we should be thinking only of the humanitarian issue, which transcends all other discussion," said Rushdie, 42. The Indian-born writer has been out of public view since Feb. 14, 1989, when the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced him to death for writing "The Satanic Verses," a novel many Muslims regard as blasphemous. "The foreign media seems to think that by publishing news of aid from Salman Rushdie to earthquake victims, we will compromise on Rushdie's fatwa (edict)," Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, known as the "Hanging Judge," said in Tehran. He indicated they would not. 
 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev warned the nation Saturday night that the country's growing ethnic strife is endangering its unity as a state as well as threatening his program of political and economic reforms. Appealing for calm and for the cool consideration of grievances after weeks of continuing unrest in scattered areas of the country, Gorbachev made clear the leadership's fear that the nation is heading into a political maelstrom that could tear the Soviet Union apart. As president, Gorbachev said, it is his "duty to warn you about the mounting danger of worsening inter-ethnic relations and the consequences for society, for every family and for every person." "The fate of perestroika and the unity of our state is at stake," he declared in a sober, 20-minute address broadcast on radio and television. "Irresponsible slogans, political instigation, setting one national group against another, the domination of some ethnic groups by others -- this could lead to disaster for us all. "The living and the succeeding generations will curse those who pushed the nation on this course and those who failed to caution it against the dangers involved in time to prevent madness." With serious ethnic clashes in Soviet Central Asia over the past month, with troops needed to maintain the peace in the southern republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and with nationalism growing stronger in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Gorbachev is struggling to hold the Soviet Union together as a state while he pushes broad reforms that he believes will resolve most of the grievances. Even as he spoke, Soviet officials reported new violence in the south -- this time between Georgians and Azerbaijanis inside the Georgian republic but in an area with many Azerbaijanis. Roving gangs, armed with hunting rifles, gasoline bombs and other weapons, had clashed in three towns south of the capital of Tbilisi last week, leaving one man dead and 22 people seriously wounded. Although limited so far in scope, some of the ethnic conflicts could grow to the point where various regions of the country would be thrown into virtual civil war, Gorbachev suggested, and some national republics could find themselves in violent disputes with their neighbors. Those who encourage the unrest are "playing with fire," Gorbachev said, warning that the government will use its full powers and take "the most decisive measures" against those provoking the clashes, organizing attacks on minority groups or urging secession. Nearly 300 people have been killed in communal clashes and related political disturbances over the past two years; tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes, including 40,000 last month alone, to seek refuge from the violence, and nearly 25,000 special troops are now deployed in various parts of the country to maintain order. "There will be no pulling of our punches in relation to those who have taken the criminal path," Gorbachev said, warning of stern measures against those engaged in communal violence or in political agitation. Political Energy Drained The ethnic strife, much of it rooted in past Soviet policies of domination by ethnic Russians or in the forced deportation of hundreds of thousands of people during the Stalinist era, has increasingly drained the political energy necessary to push through major reforms and has provided conservative critics of reform with a potent argument against faster and broader change. For Gorbachev, the spread of the unrest has forced the humiliating admission that the Soviet Union, a superpower in world terms, cannot ensure the domestic tranquility that is a first priority for any government -- nor can it protect its own minorities against pogroms. If the strife here continued and grew, he asked, "What kind of example shall we set for others while calling on the whole of mankind to build a nonviolent world?" Of equal gravity for Gorbachev in domestic political terms has been the growth of not only nationalism but the appearance of secessionist groups in the Baltic republics and in Armenia, Georgia and Moldavia, a Soviet republic on the Romanian border. The whole issue is believed to have been the subject of a high-level Communist Party conference here late last week, and Gorbachev's unusual television address underscores the threat posed by the conflicts. Gorbachev acknowledged that ethnic relations are "wound in a tight knot of contradictions" because of previous Soviet policies, particularly the effort to pull the country's 100-plus ethnic groups into a new "Soviet nationality" with a unified culture. This policy had, in fact, collided head on with growing ethnic awareness throughout the country and made the problems even worse. Past economic policies, including the "stagnation" in many regions under the regime of the late President Leonid I. Brezhnev, had also made the problems more acute. "We are also reaping today the results of lawlessness in preceding decades -- the deportation of whole peoples from their lands and the burying in oblivion of the national interests of small ethnic groups," Gorbachev said, alluding to actions carried out decades ago by the dictator Josef Stalin. "Such excesses resulted in indifference to ethnic interests, to many outstanding social and economic problems in constituent republics and autonomous regions, deformities in the development of the languages and cultures of the country's different peoples, the deteriorating demographic situation and many other negative consequences that ultimately provoked tension in inter-ethnic relations." Although these questions will be dealt with during a special meeting of the Communist Party's policy-making Central Committee in late July and then debated again by the Congress of People's Deputies, the country's new national assembly, Gorbachev apparently felt that he could not wait for those debates, and he set out his own broad guidelines for dealing with the crisis. Right of Equality "Everyone, regardless of his nationality, should feel an equal citizen in any part of the country and have a possibility to exercise all the rights guaranteed by the Soviet Union's constitution," he said. The refusal to recognize the basic principle of equality had led to attacks on minority groups in several parts of the country, Gorbachev said, alluding to the particularly vicious assaults on Mesketian Turks in Uzbekistan last month in which about 100 people died. The Soviet leader outlined an approach that would seek to increase the feeling of various ethnic groups that they are "at home in their own land" and could preserve and develop their own cultures, languages and social traditions, with the Soviet Union evolving politically to be much more of a federal system. But he said that minority communities also need to be protected so that there is a balance of rights. "We have lived and will continue to live in a multi-ethnic community," he observed. Gorbachev said that "profound transformations in the Soviet federation" are clearly essential, promising further political reforms to make it a real federation and not just one in name only. Demands Rejected But he declared at the same time his firm opposition to near-total independence demanded by some nationalists, particularly in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and to the calls by others for the redrawing of the borders of ethnic territories. The Soviet Union's ethnic groups have "a common destiny," Gorbachev said. "In quest of the better, one should not embark on the path of destroying what has been built and abandoning what has already been given by the federation and what can be multiplied within its framework," he said. 
 Three of President Bush's ambassadorial nominees, whom Democrats said had no qualifications except political connections, won narrow approval Tuesday from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) joined the Republican members as the panel first voted, 10 to 9, to send to the Senate floor the nomination of Florida real estate developer Joseph Zappala to be ambassador to Spain. Then, in voice votes, the committee approved the equally controversial nominations of Florida real estate developer Marvin Sembler to be ambassador to Australia and Della Newman, a Seattle, Wash., real estate broker, to be ambassador to New Zealand. Robb said later that he was troubled over Zappala's "quite thin" qualifications for the job but that he felt he had made an "implicit" commitment to vote for the nominee when he interviewed him May 11 and did not clearly indicate that he would oppose him. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), who led the opposition to the nominations, vowed to carry the fight to the Senate floor. "One looks through this resume wondering why this person has been appointed to this position," Sarbanes said of Zappala. "The answer is to be found in the appendix, which lists the campaign contributions." Zappala reported to the committee that he contributed $126,000 last year to Republican campaigns and gave $17,900 in the previous two years. His prior governmental experience, described on the ambassadorial evaluation form submitted to the committee, consisted mainly of chairing campaign finance committees for President Bush and the Republican Party. Other Approvals In other action, the committee routinely approved the nomination of Shirley Temple Black to be ambassador to Czechoslovakia. It also approved the nominations of Thomas Melady to be ambassador to the Vatican, William Howard Taft IV to be the permanent U.S. representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Keith L. Brown to be ambassador to Denmark, and Joseph Gildenhorn, a Washington lawyer and real estate developer, to be ambassador to Switzerland. 
 Here is a brief chronology in the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over oil production and their common border. July 17: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accuses Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of flooding the oil market and driving prices down. He said that the move cost Iraq $14 billion in lost oil revenue. July 18: Iraq accuses Kuwait of stealing $2.4 billion worth of oil from wells along disputed border with Iraq and seeking to wreck Iraq's economy by overproducing oil and pushing down prices. July 20: Kuwaiti officials suggest Iraq's sudden outburst of belligerence is aimed at getting its creditors -- including Kuwait -- to write off billions of dollars in debts from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. July 24: The U.S. Defense Department announces that Navy warships and aircraft are holding a "short-notice exercise" in the Persian Gulf with the United Arab Emirates, about 600 miles southeast of the Kuwait-Iraqi border. Kuwait goes on state of alert. July 25: Baghdad says that it will not be intimidated by U.S. pressure in its oil dispute with neighboring Kuwait, and Hussein summons the U.S. ambassador for talks. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt says Iraq and Kuwait will meet in Saudi Arabia for talks. July 26: OPEC ministers in Geneva agree to halt overproduction in hopes of pushing up the price of crude oil. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates pledge to abide by the agreement. July 31: Kuwaiti, Iraqi delegations meet in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, to negotiate oil and border dispute. Diplomats say Iraq has 100,000 troops on Kuwait's border; Kuwait army numbers about 20,000 troops. Aug. 1: Unconfirmed reports say Iraq has moved more troops toward the Kuwaiti border. Talks in Jidda collapse. Aug. 2: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait at 2 a.m. local time. 
 Iraq's powerful army claimed victory today in its lightning invasion of this small, oil-rich kingdom. Tank-led troops quickly seized the ruler's palace and government buildings, and the emir fled to Saudi Arabia, Kuwaiti officials said. Kuwait's U.S. ambassador said the Iraqis occupied all government buildings in the capital and were moving south toward the country's oil facilities. He appealed for U.S. military intervention. "The Iraqis have occupied all of Kuwait!" a Kuwaiti government official shouted in a telephone interview. Diplomatic sources in the Persian Gulf estimated that more than 200 Kuwaitis were killed or wounded. The Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein claimed that it invaded at the request of revolutionaries who had already staged a coup and established "the provisional government of free Kuwait." Kuwait and U.N. diplomats labeled the coup report a farce. Baghdad television said Iraq could withdraw its forces within days or weeks, depending on how quickly the situation stabilized. The assault followed two weeks of tension between Kuwait and Iraq, caused by Iraqi accusations that Kuwait stole oil from a disputed border area. Saddam also accused Kuwait of exceeding OPEC production quotas, thus driving down the price of oil, a major Iraqi revenue source. In recent days, diplomats said Iraq had massed more than 100,000 troops at the border. Kuwait's entire armed forces has 20,300 soldiers. It was the first time in modern history that an Arab nation had invaded another and taken over its government. Kuwait's army was no match for Iraq, battle-hardened after eight years of war with Iran. Diplomats said about 350 Iraqi tanks wheeled into the capital a few hours after crossing the border 40 miles away at dawn. Witnesses said the bombardment of ports and military airports by artillery and the air force was vicious. The invaders surrounded the palace of Kuwait's ruler, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah. Residents said the palace was seized after about two hours of heavy artillery barrages. Diplomats said Sheik Fahd al Ahmed al Sabah, one of the emir's brothers, was killed while trying to defend the palace. There were about 50 tanks around the palace and the neighboring American Embassy, residents said. The al Sabah family has ruled the city-state for almost 250 years. The Kuwaiti ambassador said the leaders were safe in Saudi Arabia. Operating from an unknown location, al Ahmed's government responded to the formation of the provisional government by stating: "Kuwait is Kuwait to its people, led by the emir, Sheik Jabbar, and his Crown Prince Sheik Saad. God preserve them from all harm." For its part, the provisional government announced through Baghdad's official Iraqi News Agency that it was dissolving Parliament and would hold "free and honest elections" at a future date. Kuwait's land and sea borders were closed, as was the airport. RELATED STORIES, PICTURES: Pages 2,3, BACK PAGE Military Forces Compared: Total Troops: Iraq: 1,000,000 Kuwait: 20,300 Main Battle Tanks: Iraq: 5,500 Kuwait: 275 Combat Aircraft: Iraq: 513 Kuwait: 36 Ships: Iraq: 51 Kuwait: 46 Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies 
 President Bush embargoed all trade with Iraq and froze the nation's assets in the United States on Thursday while refusing to rule out the use of U.S. troops to rescue Kuwait from its Iraqi invaders. The trade embargo bars imports of oil from Iraq, which account for 3% to 4% of total U.S. oil supplies, officials said. The move also prohibits Iraq from buying U.S. grain and other foodstuffs, which represent the other chief element of trade between the two nations. Iraq's "naked aggression" against Kuwait has created "an emergency in the Persian Gulf," Bush said in a speech to the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on global issues. The United States, he said, would insist on "immediate and unconditional withdrawal" of Iraqi troops. Referring to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Bush declared: "We find his behavior intolerable." The trade embargo represents the strongest international response so far to Iraq's massive invasion of its small and poorly defended neighbor, but it stopped short of the military intervention requested by desperate Kuwait officials. But according to Bush Administration sources, the Pentagon stepped up air patrols in the Persian Gulf and began moving warships, equipment and supplies into the area in a signal to Iraq that the United States would act to halt further aggression. A second executive order signed by the President early Thursday froze Kuwait's assets in the United States, a step taken to prevent Iraq from seizing Kuwaiti property. "We expect our friends to stand by us in our time of need," Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, Sheik Saud al Nasir al Sabah, said at a Washington news conference. "I think the U.S. intervention at this stage is both paramount and important." However, Iraq's ambassador to Washington, Mohammed al Mashat, said Iraq had invaded Kuwait in response to a request from the nation's "interim free government." He warned the West not to consider "any foreign interference in the current events." Iraq's explanation was quickly denounced by the State Department, which said Baghdad's claim that its troops moved into Kuwait at that country's request is "patent fraud." In a related development, the State Department confirmed that invading Iraqi troops had rounded up six American oil field workers near the border of Kuwait. Their whereabouts is not known. Despite Bush's refusal to rule out military action, it appeared an unlikely option given the strength of Iraq's military, the limited U.S. forces in the region and the opposition to U.S. intervention from other countries in the area. Officials said the Bush Administration's energies are focused mainly on organizing international economic and diplomatic pressure against Iraq. Even so, the strongest economic weapon, an international ban on Iraqi oil exports, also appears unlikely to be employed. At a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is scheduled to give a speech to the nonprofit Aspen Institute on Sunday, Bush said that Secretary of State James A. Baker III will discuss the Persian Gulf situation with Soviet officials in Moscow today. In Ulan Bator, Mongolia, where Baker was on an Asian visit, a Baker spokeswoman said that the United States and the Soviet Union plan to issue a joint statement later today condemning the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Baker will meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze on a brief refueling stop in Moscow. The meeting was arranged after Baker met with the Soviet ambassador to Mongolia, who described the Kremlin's plans for a strong Soviet stand on the invasion. Baker, at a news conference in Ulan Bator early today, said there have been no reports of U.S casualties in Kuwait and that "the integrity of foreign embassies seems to have been preserved so far." He said the estimate of the number of Iraqi troops in Kuwait varies from 50,000 to 100,000. Bush flew to Colorado after meeting early in the morning with his National Security Council to discuss the Persian Gulf situation. Originally, the President had planned to spend the night in Colorado and return to Washington today. Instead, he returned to Washington on Thursday night. Before leaving the capital Thursday morning, Bush told reporters at the White House that he was "not contemplating" any U.S. military involvement. But later in the day, at the news conference with Thatcher, Bush moved away from that pledge. He said that he had met during the day with top defense advisers and "we're not ruling any options out." The trade embargo imposed by Bush would cut off all commerce with Iraq, except news reporting, exports of publications and shipments of emergency relief supplies of food and medicine. Like Bush, Thatcher has frozen Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets, but she has not imposed a trade embargo. Iraq is highly dependent on oil exports to finance its large armed forces and considerable national debt. But Europe and Japan are far more dependent on Middle Eastern oil than is the United States, and an international oil embargo on Iraq would be painful for many U.S. allies. At the joint news conference, Thatcher called for U.N. actions to impose additional trade sanctions against Iraq. Asked about an oil embargo, however, she stopped short. "We are prepared to support in the (U.N.) Security Council those measures which collectively we can agree to and which collectively we can make effective," she said. "Those are the two tests." Bush spent the day discussing the Iraqi invasion with senior advisers and other heads of state, including the heads of Egypt, Yemen and Jordan, Arab leaders whom the President described as "friends of the United States." The Arab leaders, Bush said, had appealed to him for "restraint" and "a short period of time" in which to develop an "Arab solution." Bush expressed sympathy with the Arab effort but added that "I made clear to them that it had gone beyond simply a regional dispute." Later Thursday, the White House said that Bush had spoken with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia for about 30 minutes. The statement said the two leaders agreed that the invasion was "unacceptable" and "discussed possible options for dealing with the situation." At a news conference in Washington, Kuwaiti ambassador Saud appealed to the United States for military assistance. "My people are suffering," Saud said, adding that Kuwait is requesting aid "from everyone who has conscience and fair play around this world." Referring to Kuwait's request for U.S. military intervention, he said: "We don't stand a chance if we don't get aid from our friends." Mashat, Baghdad's ambassador to the United States, said in a statement given to reporters in Washington that Iraq hoped to withdraw its forces within a few days or weeks. "The events currently occurring in Kuwait are an internal affair with which Iraq has no relation," Mashat said. Meanwhile, the United States asked Iraq to account for the six missing American oil company employees in Kuwait. Times staff writers Maura Reynolds, Michael Ross and Don Shannon, in Washington, and Jim Mann, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, contributed to this story. More on Invasion U.S. FORCES SHIFTED -- U.S. warships and planes deploy quickly to the troubled area. But American options are limited. A10 NO MAJOR IMPACT -- The broad embargo that Bush imposed on Iraq is not expected to have a major impact on its economy. A11 AN ARAB DILEMMA -- Arab ministers, in disarray, cannot agree on a response to the crisis. A12 MARKET POUNDED -- The stock market was rocked by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; the Dow slid 34.66. D1 
 Iraq struck back against the West today, rounding up hundreds of foreign nationals in Kuwait, as the U.N. Security Council overwhelming approved sweeping trade and military sanctions against Iraq to punish it for invading the emirate. The Iraqi invaders scoured hotels looking for some of the thousands of Westerners based in Kuwait or caught by the invasion. More than 1 million foreigners live and work in Kuwait. Several hundred Britons, Americans and West Germans were grabbed in the hotels, and some were taken to Iraq, the West German and British foreign ministries said. Britain said Baghdad had given no reason for detaining 366 people, most of them passengers from a British Airways flight stranded at Kuwait airport by the invasion. The U.N. sanctions, which included a ban on oil purchases, came on a vote of 13 to 0, on the 15-member council. Cuba and Yemen abstained on the resolution, which was proposed by the United States. The Iraqi-installed Kuwait government had earlier warned foreign countries that they should not forget their citizens in Kuwait while heaping on economic punishments, and today's roundup appeared to be a reaction against the sanctions. Iraqi troops rolled into its New Jersey-sized neighbor Thursday, conquering the capital and moving south toward the Saudi Arabian border. Persian Gulf oil sources said today that they had seen Saudi troops moving north toward the Kuwaiti frontier near the oil port of Khafji, but the Saudis denied that they had sent reinforcements to the border. Iraqi authorities today told Turkey's state-run pipeline company that one of the twin pipelines that carry Baghdad's oil through Turkey will be closed "for reasons of marketing," officials said. World oil prices soared to their highest level in more than four years today as more countries joined the attempt to strangle Baghdad's economy and force it to withdraw its invasion troops. Iraq's oil revenues totaled more than $11 billion last year. It has been pressing for higher oil prices to rebuild an economy damaged by the 1980-88 war with Iran and settle foreign debts of up to $80 billion. One of the reasons Iraq gave for invading Kuwait was Kuwaiti reluctance to slow its flow of oil and push oil prices higher, but it was Iraqi oil that had slowed today. "There are very few tankers loading Iraqi oil at Yumurtalik," a senior Turkish government official said, referring to the export jetties on the Turkish side of the Mediterranean Sea. In Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein ordered drills for millions of people in case mass evacuations were needed. He warned his nation's 17 million people to be on alert for possible U.S. or Israeli attacks. The United States has warned Iraq against any attack on Saudi Arabia, and President Bush has said all options are open for the United States. Hundreds of Kuwaitis took to the desert to flee into Saudi Arabia, their children and a few belongings crammed into four-wheel-drive vehicles. RELATED STORIES: Pages 2,3 
 Invading Iraqis have been permitted to take over the homes and even wear the clothes of Kuwaitis who have been killed or have fled their homeland, Kuwait's ambassador to the United States charged Tuesday. Sheik Saud al Nasir al Sabah said in an interview that he had spoken by telephone to several Kuwaitis taking refuge in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, who reported that the Iraqis had made it easy for them to leave. That is because the fleeing Kuwaitis apparently are being replaced by Iraqis seeking to meld in with the local population, he contended. "They are trucking them in, busing them in, trying to replace the population, to change the makeup of the place," Saud said, adding they were issuing the new residents cards that identify them as Kuwaiti citizens. "They are giving them Kuwaiti clothes in order to make it appear that these are the people of Kuwait. They are taking the houses, robbing the houses." Kuwaiti officials who have been detained by the Iraqi military and who have refused to cooperate have been executed, Saud claimed, adding: "We have eyewitness reports. Some were bused back to Baghdad for further interrogation. We don't know what has become of them." Kuwaiti refugees have also reported that almost all government buildings and palaces have been blown up and destroyed, Saud said. There has been "mass destruction," he said, noting that all official installations except the water system and oil equipment are ruined. "Everything is gone." 
 Dave Johnson of the United States clinched the decathlon gold medal in the final event at the World University Games Sunday. Johnson trailed Mikhail Medved of the Soviet Union by 11 points before the 1,500-meter race, the final event of the two-day competition. "It's the hardest I've ever worked in my life," said Johnson, of Montclair, Calif. "I was scared to death. I knew I had to run at my best or even better to win." Johnson posted a time of 4 minutes 32.72 seconds in the 1,500. That gave him 727 points for a winning total of 8,216, 154 more than Medved. The Soviet had a time of 4:59.60 in the race, worth 562 points, and ended up second with a total of 8,062. Johnson leads the world decathlon rankings this year with 8,549 points. "I always go out to give 100%, but the weather conditions stopped me from having a better score," he said. Sheldon Blockburger of the U.S. was third going into the last event. But he was overtaken by Dezso Szabo of Hungary and had to settle for fourth place at 7,906. Szabo clinched the bronze with 8,031. "I felt good going into the race, but my legs just gave out," said Blockburger, who had the slowest 1,500 time and earned only 569 points in the final event. Olympic steeplechase champion Julius Kariuki of Kenya, running the distance for the first time this year, won the men's 10,000-meter race, while the Romanian team earned six gold medals. Four of Romania's golds came in rowing and two in track and field, one of them from Olympic champion Paula Ivan, who set a meet record in winning the women's 3,000-meter race. Reggie Davis won the gold and Kevin Henderson took the bronze for the U.S. in the men's 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Davis, of Tallahassee, Fla., breezed home in the hurdles in 49.74 seconds. Vladimir Budko of the Soviet Union was a distant second in 50.30, with Henderson, of Auburn, Ala., third in 50.57. "I had some problems recently with disqualifications, but this time it was OK," Davis said. "I wanted this title and a meet record, but the weather spoiled my chances." Kariuki, who won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, beat out Zeki Oeztuerk of Turkey to win the 10,000 in the slow time of 28:35.46. "I ran to win and didn't worry about the time," Kariuki said. "I'm in good condition and it's not a problem to run either the steeplechase or the 10,000." Ivan, the Olympic 1,500-meter champion and silver medalist at 3,000 meters, won the gold in the 3,000 in 8:44.09, bettering her meet record of 8:53.61 set in 1987. Ana Quirot of Cuba cruised to victory in the women's 400 meters in a slow 50.73, ahead of Jearl Miles of the U.S. at 52.41. Quirot posted a meet record of 50.01 in Saturday's heats, fastest in the world this year. Miles, of Jacksonville, Fla., said she tried to conserve her strength for the final 200 meters. "I tried not to waste too much energy on the backstretch and concentrated on giving a big burst on the home stretch," she said. Jaime Jefferson of Cuba won the men's long jump at 26 feet, 2 1/4 inches. Vladimir Ratoushkov of the Soviet Union was second at 26-1 1/2, followed by Llewellyn Starks of the U.S. at 25-11 1/2. Galina Astafei of Romania, the world junior champion, upset Silvia Costa of Cuba in the women's high jump. Both cleared 6-3 1/4 but Astafei won on fewer misses. 
 Hurricane Hugo advanced faster and with renewed fury today on Georgia and South Carolina as 150,000 coastal residents grabbed what they could carry and fled inland on jammed highways. "We're not going to take any chances," said Lamar Davis, a bartender on St. Simons Island off southern Georgia, who stole a last glance at the pounding surf before leaving with his wife and 4-year-old daughter. The leading edge of Hugo, whose winds muscled up to 125 m.p.h. from 105 m.p.h. the day before, was most likely to hit between Savannah, Ga., and Charleston any time after 8 p.m., local time. A hurricane warning was in effect between Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Oregon Inlet, N.C. At 3 p.m., Hugo was 220 miles from Savannah and bearing down at 20 m.p.h. It was expected to turn gradually to the north, according to the National Weather Service. Tidal Surge Feared The timing of the landfall was critical because of the storm's tidal surge, a dome of water 10 to 15 feet high that would feed a normal 5-foot tide that peaks after 2 a.m. "On top of that will be waves, and so (on) . . . barrier islands (in) many places the buildings will be swept clean off of those islands," Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center, said from Coral Gables, Fla. Evacuees queued up at gasoline stations and stripped store shelves of bottled water, bread and batteries. Officials warned coastal dwellers not to linger because gale force winds and flash floods could block escape routes. Five to 10 inches of rain is expected. The Navy moved ships out of coastal harbors to ride out the storm at sea. Army bases in coastal states moved helicopters inland or into shelters. In South Carolina, which was in a state of emergency, Gov. Carroll Campbell dispatched 400 National Guardsmen to assist a mandatory evacuation of coastal barrier islands and shorefront. About one-fifth of the state's 3.1 million residents live in eight coastal counties. Resort Streets Deserted By early afternoon, the wind-swept streets of the resort island of Hilton Head were deserted. Store windows were fortified with boards and most homes were empty. State troopers guarded the island's entrance. "We brought our photo albums and our important papers," said Pat Bross, who had stopped for gas while heading from Hilton Head to Augusta, Ga., with her husband. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency opened shelters and advised about 142,000 people -- more than 95,000 of them in Chatham County -- to leave their homes. Gov. Joe Frank Harris declared a state of emergency in six counties. The state's biggest shelters were opened at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, with room for 15,500, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dublin, where officials said nearly 19,000 could be housed. Coastal school systems canceled classes for the rest of the week. Hugo was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of strength, indicating that it was powerful enough to cause extensive damage. 
 The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for a huge explosion Friday that reduced a three-story military barracks on the southeast coast of England to rubble, killing 10 people and injuring 22, eight seriously. It would be one of the outlawed IRA's deadliest attacks on the main British island. Nine marine musicians and one civilian died in the blast, which also damaged dozens of nearby homes and could be heard two miles away. The musicians were between the ages of 16 and 20 as are most of the recruits in the school. A police spokesman said forensic experts are still trying to determine with certainty that the explosion was the result of a bomb. But he said the characteristics of the blast and a statement claiming responsibility appeared to confirm that it was the work of the IRA. Security sources said they believe that at least two IRA "active service" units, each composed of four or five members, are operating in Britain and continental Europe. One member, known as the "Jackal" after the assassin in the Frederick Forsyth novel "The Day of the Jackal," has been eluding the authorities for two years. He has been identified as Patrick Sheehy and has been linked to the IRA's last successful mainland bombing attack -- on an army barracks at Mill Hill in August, 1988. One soldier was killed in that incident. Sheehy and another wanted Irishman, John Conaghty, were linked to an IRA bomb factory in North London that the police stumbled upon last December while in pursuit of a car thief. A search turned up automatic and semiautomatic weapons, ammunition, 150 pounds of Semtex high explosive and a "hit list" of 100 British political figures and other officials headed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Friday's explosion occurred about 8:30 a.m. in a lounge at the Royal Marines School of Music near Deal, on the English Channel in the county of Kent. At the school are about 250 recruits who receive military and musical training before joining Royal Marines bands. The roof of the three-story barracks collapsed, trapping victims beneath the rubble. Firefighters used thermal cameras and dogs to search the debris for victims and survivors. Heavy lifting gear was brought to the scene from a nearby site where a tunnel is being built beneath the English Channel. Rescuers shouted for quiet as they used high-technology listening equipment in an effort to trace the sound of faint heartbeats. "I looked up from the sink and I just saw the whole building explode," Heather Hackett, a 26-year-old Deal housewife, told the British Press Assn.. She said she told her children to run for cover, but as they did, her kitchen window shattered. "The whole window was blown across the kitchen," Hackett recalled. Her 2-year-old son, Joshua, was hit by a shard that embedded itself in his back but caused no serious injury. "I just screamed and ran out of the room," she said. "The bang was so loud I thought the whole house was coming in." 'Appalling Outrage' Defense Secretary Tom King visited the scene and called the bombing "an appalling outrage committed against unarmed bandsmen -- people who worked for charity, who have given great enjoyment to millions right across the country, right across the world. "The real evil of these murders is that the people who commit them, the 'godfathers' who send them to commit them, know that they will actually achieve nothing. Terrorism is not going to win. We shall find the people responsible for this outrage sooner or later, as we have already found some of those responsible for the earlier outrages, and they will be brought to justice." The authorities have been on high alert, expecting IRA attacks in connection with last month's 20th anniversary of the introduction of British troops into Northern Ireland. The republican underground organization opposes British rule in the predominantly Protestant province and is fighting to join the mainly Roman Catholic south in a united, independent Ireland. Visit to Ulster But in a statement telephoned to a Dublin news agency, Ireland International, Friday's attack was linked to Thatcher's visit last week to units of the controversial Ulster Defense Regiment in Northern Ireland. The locally recruited, overwhelmingly Protestant Ulster Defense Regiment has come under fire in connection with an investigation into the leak of secret government lists of suspected IRA members to Protestant assassination squads. It is widely hated by the Catholic minority in the province, and the Irish government in Dublin has urged Britain to disband the force. "Mrs. Thatcher visited Ireland with a message of war at a time when we want peace," the statement claiming responsibility for the Deal attack said. "Now in turn we have visited the Royal Marines in Kent. But we still want peace, and we want the British government to leave our country." The statement was signed "P. O'Neill, Irish Republican Publicity Bureau," a signature that has appeared on earlier IRA bombing claims. Friday's attack was the worst on the mainland since the virtually simultaneous bombings of July, 1982, directed at ceremonial military units in London's Hyde Park and Regent's Park. Eleven bandsmen and mounted guards were killed in those incidents. Eight persons were killed by IRA car bombs outside Harrods department store here in December, 1983, and 21 were killed and 162 injured in two Birmingham public house bombings in the fall of 1974. An attempted barracks bombing was averted last February when a sentry came upon two intruders who had managed to get inside a military camp in Shropshire. There has been a series of bomb and automatic rifle attacks this year on British soldiers and their families stationed in West Germany. Earlier this month an IRA gunman shot to death an army wife, Heidi Hazell, 25, in her car near her home at Dortmund. 
 The two dominant home and automobile insurers in the Carolinas said Tuesday that they expect to be hit with about $600 million in claims from Hurricane Hugo. Such heavy losses suggest that the storm will be the most expensive ever for the insurance industry. State Farm Insurance Co. expects claims as high as $400 million in South Carolina, where it insures one out of every five homes, spokesman Jerry Parsons said. The Bloomington, Ill.-based company is also projecting an additional $100 million in claims from storm damage in North Carolina and Virginia, he said. Additionally, Nationwide Insurance Co. said it expects claims close to $100 million, more than triple the $31 million that the company paid for damages caused by Hurricane Elena when it swept through Florida, Alabama and Mississippi in 1985. "Our previous all-time high was in 1983, when we paid $165 million in comparable claims for Hurricane Alicia, which struck Galveston and Houston. There were a phenomenal number of claims from that storm, but there was not the severity of damage" as in Hugo, Parsons said. Officials said property damage from Hugo escalated because the storm scored a direct hit on Charleston and then, instead of heading out to sea, veered northwest, hitting other population centers, including Charlotte, N.C. Losses Still Being Tallied Nationwide, based in Columbus, Ohio, is the biggest home and auto insurance in North Carolina, where damage was unexpectedly high, and is the third-largest insurer in South Carolina. "We have so far received 16,000 claims," spokesman Bob Sohozich said. Although claims adjusters are still tallying the losses, there is now little doubt that overall damage to insured property will far exceed the record $752.5 million in claims paid by the industry after Hurricane Frederic struck Mississippi and Alabama in 1979, Parsons said. The Insurance Information Institute is expected to issue a report Thursday on overall insured losses from Hugo. Although the losses are substantial, they are not expected to threaten the financial health of any individual company because reinsurers will pick up a significant portion of the costs. For example, Nationwide said it would be responsible for up to $30 million in claims, while its reinsurers would cover up to $150 million in damages. Reinsurers -- which share a portion of the risk on an insurance policy in exchange for part of the premium income -- typically spread their risk over many hundreds of companies. Analysts said most of the claims will be borne by mutual insurance companies, which are owned by policyholders, but they noted that losses from Hurricane Hugo would also affect the short-term earnings of some publicly traded companies. Continental Corp. said it expects to report a pretax charge of $50 million for the third quarter, reflecting its net exposure to damages from the storm. The New York-based company had substantial business in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where Hugo first struck with devastating force. Forecasts May Be Cut The charge might push Continental into the red for the quarter, said Udayan Ghose, an analyst with Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York. "If there is a profit, it will be a very small one," he said. The charge will cut expected annual earnings by close to 25%, he added. Ghose said Shearson may also cut its third-quarter and annual earnings projections for Cigna Corp., USF&amp;G Corp. and Lincoln National Corp., which are expected to suffer hurricane-related losses equal to about 10% of expected full-year earnings. Overall 1989 catastrophic losses for the industry now total about $1.6 billion, and analysts expect Hugo to make this year the costliest. But "this could be a positive for the industry," Ghose said, explaining that the industry is in the middle of a price war because it is overcapitalized. Billions of dollars in losses from Hugo and other catastrophes this year would have "a significant impact on excess capital," he said, causing insurance firms to raise prices shortly. "That would be good for the companies and shareholders," he said. 
 The quick collapse of a bizarre military revolt on the Philippines' second-largest island leaves President Corazon Aquino's beleaguered government with a muddied victory at best and clear danger signs ahead. Analysts here say Aquino's immediate use of small bombers and artillery to end a pocket rebellion led by renegade army Col. Alexander Noble on the north coast of Mindanao helps counter oft-heard criticism that her four-year-old government is indecisive and inept. And despite widespread fears that the Oct. 4-6 uprising would quickly spread to military garrisons on other islands and become a major threat to Aquino, leaders of the rightist military underground failed to move. "It was the coup attempt that didn't catch fire," one Western diplomat said. "It sort of fizzled before anything could happen." But he and other diplomats see little benefit for Aquino's battered image overseas. "The international consequence is people saying, 'Yet another revolt in the Philippines.' It's like she's under a perpetual onslaught," he said. Moreover, questions linger as to how Noble and about 350 rebel troops so easily evaded a much-publicized military manhunt to drive 140 miles from their mountain sanctuary, pass unhindered through at least 10 military checkpoints and seize two military camps, including the command post of the general who had been ordered to capture him -- all without firing a shot. Noble, once chief of staff of Aquino's own security detail, quickly linked up with Reuben Canoy, a local politician who heads the so-called Mindanao Independence Movement. The resource-rich island has spawned secession groups since the 16th Century -- though Canoy's is the first to print fake passports and currency based on crude counterfeits of U.S. $5 bills. "The whole thing was kind of a farce," one Asian diplomat said. "Only in the Philippines." Noble, best known for his long goatee and red stocking cap, quickly surrendered with most of his motley army of soldiers and Higaonon tribal militiamen after two World War II-vintage T-28 planes, called Tora Toras here, bombed and strafed one of the camps. One plane later crashed and the pilot drowned, the revolt's only fatality. Aquino has now survived two major coup attempts and half a dozen assorted and aborted military mutinies. Most ended in embarrassing standoffs or dragged on for days, as top military leaders hedged on ordering troops to fire on other soldiers. In one case, mutineers were ordered to do push-ups and attend Bible class as punishment. "This time was a different government response altogether, which Noble clearly had underestimated," said University of the Philippines political scientist Alex Magno. "He expected another standoff and hoped for other camps to defect. He got bombed instead." After the revolt, the government toughened its anti-coup law, boosting the maximum penalty from 12 years to life in prison. Aquino's spokesman, Tomas Gomez III, urged other rebel leaders to take "the honorable way out" -- suicide. Ironically, Noble made his move on the day a presidential fact-finding board issued a long-awaited 609-page report on the causes of last December's coup attempt in Manila, which left more than 100 people dead. After 332 witnesses, 226 sworn statements and 4,100 documents, the so-called Davide Commission concluded that coup attempts are likely to continue -- but unlikely to succeed -- for the indefinite future. Commission member Delfin Lazaro estimated that 70 officers involved in last December's coup attempt, which came closest to toppling Aquino, are still at large and still plotting. "It's going to be very difficult for them to get the critical mass to launch a successful coup," he said. "But they'll keep trying. What else can they do?" 
 Leonard Bernstein, the Renaissance man of music who excelled as pianist, composer, conductor and teacher and was, as well, the flamboyant ringmaster of his own nonstop circus, died Sunday in his Manhattan apartment. He was 72. Bernstein, known and beloved by the world as "Lenny," died at 6:15 p.m. in the presence of his son, Alexander, and physician, Kevin M. Cahill, who said the cause of death was complications of progressive lung failure. On Cahill's advice, the conductor had announced Tuesday that he would retire. Cahill said progressive emphysema complicated by a pleural tumor and a series of lung infections had left Bernstein too weak to continue working. In recent months, Bernstein canceled performances with increasing frequency. His last conducting appearance was at Tanglewood, Mass., on Aug. 19. Bernstein was the first American-born conductor to lead a major symphony orchestra, often joining his New York Philharmonic in playing his own pieces, while conducting from the piano. He etched other niches in history by composing the indelible "West Side Story" and teaching a generation about classical music via the innovative television series "Omnibus." Exhibiting remarkable talent and expertise in four areas that most artists wish they possessed in merely one, Bernstein still might have remained an obscure musician without the unique theatrical flair that dominated his personal as well as professional life. With it, he became a personality, well known even to people who never bought a ticket to a musical performance or watched a serious television show. The dervish persona, including his upstart gymnastics on the podium, never lessened throughout his long life in the spotlight. He made classical music understandable and palatable to the masses. And he lifted popular music to a higher plane, infusing performers and listeners with his manic joy in creating tonal sound. "Some conductors mellow with age," commented Times music critic Martin Bernheimer when Bernstein conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic at UCLA in 1986. "(But) Bernstein, at 68, remains a frenetic combination of orbiting rocket, aerobics master, super-juggler, matinee idol, booming cannon, hysterical mime, heart-rending tragedian, bouncing ball, sky writer, riveting machine, mawkish sentimentalist and danseur ignoble." Describing the conductor in the same concert, Bernheimer referred to him as "the shrugging, jumping, sighing, soaring, gushing, crouching, rocking, rolling, bounding, bobbing, leaping, jiggling, stabbing, hunching, bumping, grinding and grunting maestro in excelsis." Critics also were quick to agree that had his envied and often-criticized showmanship masked lazy, sloppy or inept musicianship, Bernstein could never have remained an internationally sought-after conductor for five decades. He knew what he was doing, and the musicians he accompanied, wrote for, conducted, or lectured to and taught admired him as one of their own. Louis Bernstein (so-named because his maternal grandmother insisted) was born Aug. 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Mass., to two Russian Jewish immigrants. His father, Samuel Joseph Bernstein, was an entrepreneur of women's hair care products and a Talmudic scholar. His mother, Jennie Resnick Bernstein, who survives him, said her son always had an ear for music. "When he was 4 or 5, he would play an imaginary piano on his windowsill." The parents preferred the name "Leonard" and called the boy that. When his kindergarten teacher asked "Louis Bernstein" to stand up, he remained seated and looked around the room to see who shared his last name. Bernstein changed his name legally at age 16, when he got his first driver's license. His mega musical talent emerged belatedly and almost by accident. When Bernstein was 10, a divorcing aunt stored her old upright piano with his parents, and the boy who used to play at the windowsill became fascinated with it. He asked for lessons, and soon was playing better than his teacher, a neighbor's daughter who charged $1 a lesson. By age 12, he was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and had determined, despite his father's objections, that music -- at that point playing the piano -- would be his career. Bernstein's stunning instinctive talents for sight-reading, remembering complicated scores, and improvisation became evident as he played, and altered, classical, jazz and popular music. He produced his own shows and versions of "The Mikado" and "Carmen," and performed as piano soloist with his school orchestra and the State Symphony Orchestra. He reveled in music while excelling in athletics and the classical subjects taught at the 300-year-old Boston Latin School. At Harvard University, Bernstein studied piano and composition, but developed a serious interest in composing only after meeting American composer Aaron Copland. A fan and practitioner of his music, Bernstein met Copland in a typical it-could-only-happen-to-Lenny incident. Invited to a dance recital in New York, Bernstein sat in the balcony next to a man he did not recognize. Invited afterward to a post-recital birthday party for Copland, Bernstein commandeered the piano and played Copland's "Piano Variations." His performance captivated the man he had met in the balcony, who of course was Copland. They became lifelong friends. Copland introduced Bernstein to several composers and got him his first job -- transcribing music for the publisher Boosey and Hawkes. Ironically, Copland subsequently urged the torn Bernstein to make conducting, rather than composing or even piano playing, his career. Conducting emerged as a possibility to Bernstein that same year -- 1937, his sophomore year at Harvard -- when he met the Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos during the maestro's visit to campus. Mitropoulos was so impressed with Bernstein's playing that he invited him to attend rehearsals with the Boston Symphony. The maestro also talked with Bernstein privately in his dressing room after concerts, promising to keep in touch. "The influence of Mitropoulos on my life, on my conducting life is enormous and usually greatly underrated or not known at all," Bernstein wrote years later, after his mentors had all died, "because ordinarily the two great conductors with whom I studied are the ones who receive the credit for whatever conducting prowess I have, namely Serge Koussevitzky and Fritz Reiner. . . . But long before I met either of them, I had met Dimitri Mitropoulos . . . and watching him conduct those two weeks of rehearsals and concerts with the Boston Symphony laid some kind of conductorial passion and groundwork in my psyche which I wasn't even aware of until many years later." Graduated from Harvard and out of work after a summer in New York, Bernstein asked Mitropoulos what he should do. "You must be a conductor," Mitropoulos replied, urging him to study at Juilliard or with Reiner at Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. It was fall and conducting classes at Juilliard were full, so Bernstein went to Philadelphia for two years. During the summers he studied under Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, at the new school Koussevitzky was starting at the orchestra's summer home, Tanglewood. "He became like a surrogate father to me," Bernstein later said of Koussevitzky, his third major conducting mentor. "He had no children of his own and I had a father whom I loved very much but who was not for this musical thing at all. . . . And so I found another father: first Mitropoulos, then Reiner, and now Koussevitzky. But the Koussevitzky relationship was very special, very warm." Bernstein later became Koussevitzky's assistant and returned to Tanglewood annually to conduct and teach. He so revered the maestro that he was married in Koussevitzky's shoes and white suit and always conducted wearing his cuff links. It was Koussevitzky -- and fate -- who arranged Bernstein's meteoric ascension to world-class conductor at the unheard-of age of 25. On his 25th birthday, Aug. 25, 1943, Bernstein was told by the Koussevitzkys that he should visit Artur Rodzinsky, newly appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic, at his Stockbridge, Conn., farm. "I am going to need an assistant conductor," Rodzinsky told him. "I have gone through all the conductors I know of in my mind and I finally asked God whom I shall take and God said, 'Take Bernstein,' " he said, granting the position as a favor not to God but to Koussevitzky. Remarkable as his appointment was considering that he was an American and so young, Bernstein was given little chance of actually taking the podium. In the orchestra's history, no assistant conductor had ever been called on. But for "Lucky Lenny" history made an exception. On Nov. 14, less than three months after Bernstein got the job, guest conductor Bruno Walter fell ill and Rodzinsky was snowed in at his farm. Jennie Tourel had sung Bernstein's "I Hate Music" at her Town Hall debut the previous night, in itself an event big enough to bring his parents to town, and he had played for her and the post-recital party. With no rehearsal, a hangover and three hours sleep, Bernstein was to conduct a complex program broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. The New York Times chronicled the epic event on Page One and stated in an editorial: "Mr. Bernstein had to have something approaching genius to make full use of his opportunity. . . . It's a good American success story. The warm, friendly triumph of it filled Carnegie Hall and spread over the airwaves." Bernstein was not to get his own orchestra until he took over the New York Philharmonic in 1957-58. He had no time for one. He was too much in demand around the world as the wunderkind guest conductor. Successful as a pianist, composer and conductor, Bernstein, according to Joan Peyser in a controversial biography, consulted psychiatrists because of his internal conflict over the three pursuits. "It is impossible for me to make an exclusive choice among the various activities," Bernstein wrote in 1946. "What seems right for me at any given moment is what I must do. . . . The ends are music itself . . . and the means are my private problem." The piano became an occasional solo onstage or a celebrated party pastime. Bernstein concentrated seriously on composing while developing and commercializing his conducting career. His first major composition, a symphony titled "Jeremiah," was introduced in 1942, and his first ballet, "Fancy Free," and related first musical, "On the Town," both debuted in 1944. He sought to be a classical composer, winning plaudits for symphonies ("Jeremiah" was followed by "The Age of Anxiety" in 1949 and "Kaddish" in 1963), sonatas, and the operas "Trouble in Tahiti" in 1953 and "A Quiet Place" in 1983. In writing music, Bernstein achieved greater success on Broadway, and even in Hollywood, than in Lincoln Center. He followed "On the Town" with the musicals "Wonderful Town" in 1953, the score for the film "On the Waterfront" in 1954, and the critically acclaimed but less popular "Candide" in 1956. His best and best-remembered work, "West Side Story," debuted in 1957. "If I can write one real, moving American opera that any American can understand (and one that is, notwithstanding, a serious musical work), I shall be a happy man," Bernstein said in 1948. When many suggested a decade later that he had achieved his dream with "West Side Story," he disagreed, saying: "There are moments when I think so, but as a sum total it fails to be an opera. Because at the denouement, at the dramatic unraveling, the music stops. "But I don't love it any less," he added, reveling in the adulation his adaptation of the Romeo and Juliet conflict had produced. "It doesn't make it a stepchild or a foundling." In teaching, his fourth area of expertise, Bernstein taught regularly at Tanglewood and won his place in academic annals with his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures on tonality at Harvard in 1973. It was on television in the 1950s and 1960s, with his "Young People's Concerts" of the Philharmonic and "Omnibus," that Bernstein taught the nation. "An assessment of Bernstein must include his talent and contribution as a teacher and popularizer of music, a role that has set him apart most from other performers," conductor, historian and Bard College President Leon Botstein wrote in Harper's in 1983. Instinctively adept at television, Bernstein became a prototype for Carl Sagan, Alistair Cooke and others now familiar on instructive programs on the Public Broadcasting System. Bernstein's programs, Botstein said, "displayed his gift for analyzing and enthusing about classical music without sacrificing the integrity of the score, its complexity, or its simple genius. No one before or since Bernstein has been so effective -- artistically and commercially -- in proselytizing and bringing alive serious music to a mass audience." The television classics won Bernstein a coveted Peabody award. Bernstein was able to apply his innate ability for commercializing his art that had made him wealthy to the struggling New York Philharmonic. He introduced free concerts in the park and put the orchestra on television, widening its audience and tripling paid concert attendance. He left the orchestra in 1969, after a record 11-year tenure at the helm, to have more time for composing and guest conducting. If two rings of the Bernstein circus rested in popular and classical music, the third was anchored in his uproarious personal life. Known for his emotional embraces of both sexes, Bernstein loved crowds and kept friends and family with him throughout the night at his Manhattan apartment or Connecticut country home. A heavy smoker and drinker who partied or worked until dawn and slept until noon, he claimed he composed or studied scores even when surrounded by people. "God knows, I should be dead by now," he said as he approached 70, characteristically cavalier about his health. "I smoke. I drink. I stay up all night. I'm overcommitted on all fronts. . . . I was told that if I didn't stop smoking I'd be dead at 35. Well, I beat the rap." Raising the high-brow music world's eyebrows, Bernstein campaigned with other celebrities for the civil rights of blacks in the 1960s and against the Vietnam War in the 1970s. Criticized for "radical chic," his leftist political philosophy prompted him to host a storied fund-raising party for the Black Panthers in 1970. In 1989, he rejected a National Medal of the Arts in protest of the withdrawn $10,000 grant (later reinstated) of the National Endowment for the Arts to an art show on AIDS. Although Peyser made a strong case in her 1987 biography that Bernstein had many homosexual affairs (Bernstein promised his children never to read the book), there was no question that he adored his family. On Sept. 9, 1951, he married Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre, and, despite a short separation and subsequent reconciliation in 1976, remained devoted to her and went into a severe depression when she died of lung cancer in 1978. Bernstein is also survived by two daughters, Jamie and Nina, as well as his sister, Shirley, and brother, Burton. Spokeswoman Margaret Carson said the funeral would be private. Staunchly opposed to retiring, until last Tuesday, Bernstein continued his guest conducting, composing, and recording, perhaps topping his more than 200 records with the best of his best, a re-recording of "West Side Story" in 1985. The effort became Deutsche Grammaphon's all-time best-selling record and prompted Will Crutchfield to write in the New York Times that Bernstein was in a class with Giuseppe Verdi. French President Francois Mitterrand saluted "West Side Story" anew in 1986 when he made Bernstein a commander of the Legion of Honor. After a nationwide series of concerts and parties celebrating his 70th birthday in 1988, Bernstein said with uncharacteristic modesty: "I have no further requests of the fates . . . except for time. I've achieved more than I had any right to expect. Nobody has been as lucky as I have." SUPERSTAR LENNY: Too much talent, too little time, says Martin Bernheimer. A23 
 Tuesday's earthquake, the strongest on the San Andreas fault since the San Francisco quake on April 18, 1906, came in a place that had been identified by scientists just last year as the most likely spot for a major jolt in Northern California within the next 30 years. The epicenter of the temblor, eight miles east-northeast of the city of Santa Cruz in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was at virtually the same spot as earthquakes in the 5-magnitude range that occurred on June 27, 1988, and Aug. 8, 1989. A 6.5-magnitude quake was centered there in 1865. The U.S. Geological Survey, in a 1988 report on regions of high earthquake probability in California, said there was a 30% chance of another 6.5-magnitude earthquake in the immediate vicinity by the year 2018. The report cited even higher probabilities for major temblors on the San Andreas near Parkfield in central California and Coachella in Southern California in the same period, but it pinpointed the Santa Cruz mountains as the most vulnerable spot in Northern California, in part because the area marked the southernmost point of maximum ground slippage during the 1906 earthquake. A period of 83 years is short as far as earthquake intervals go, and during this time, scientists said Tuesday night, pressure was probably building up in the southern neighboring segment of the San Andreas, which had not slipped as much. Thomas Heaton, the Geological Survey scientist in charge of the agency's Pasadena field office, said that the 1987 and 1988 earthquakes now must be seen as "preshocks" of the Tuesday's 6.9 temblor. He said "foreshocks" would not be the proper term, since months had elapsed before the more powerful earthquake struck. Heaton said that a still larger shock is unlikely. But he joined Caltech scientists in saying that aftershocks as strong as 5.9 magnitude should be expected, and that the pattern of aftershocks could last for months. A 5.9 aftershock would be as strong as the 1987 Whittier quake in the Los Angeles area. After both the 1987 and the 1988 earthquakes in the Santa Cruz mountains, the state Office of Emergency Services and the U.S. Geological Survey issued warnings of increased risk of sizable shakes, ranging up to 6.5 magnitude, within the next few days in the vicinity. But these warnings said that if nothing happened, then the chances of a major earthquake would recede to normal for the vicinity. The trouble was, the area was more prone to quakes at this time than any other place in the Bay Area on the San Andreas Fault. Only the nearby Hayward fault may harbor as great a danger of a catastrophic earthquake in the Bay Area. The San Andreas, the longest and best-known earthquake fault in California, extends from Point Arena in Mendocino County to the Salton Sea. It has been the site of the deadliest and most destructive earthquakes in the state's recorded history. Although Tuesday's quake was powerful, Waverly Person, chief of the National Earthquake Information Service in Golden, Colo., cautioned that at 6.9 magnitude, it should be considered only a "strong" shock, not a "major" one, as a quake in the 7.0 to 7.9 range would be classified, or a "great" one, as a quake of 8.0 or above would be. Person and others in the Geological Survey warned Tuesday night that the probability is 40% that a temblor more powerful than Tuesday's will strike in Southern California sometime in the next three decades. But, as it was, Tuesday's quake was about four times stronger than the devastating Sylmar-San Fernando earthquake of 1971 and 10 times stronger than the 1987 Whittier quake. Each point of magnitude represents a 10-fold increase in the power of an earthquake. Person said that, like most San Andreas earthquakes, this was most likely to be a strike-slip quake, with one side of the fault grinding horizontally past another. But he said a final evaluation would have to await on-scene inspection teams that will be sent into the epicenter area today by the Geological Survey's Menlo Park office. Jim Dewey, a research geophysicist at the National Earthquake Center, said preliminary evaluations indicated that the fracture was about 10 miles deep, and that the quake rupture extended about 30 miles south down the fault from the epicenter. Person said that the area of strongest shaking was around Santa Cruz, although this evaluation too will have to await field evaluations, as will a final confirmation of the magnitude of the earthquake. The nearest metropolitan area to Tuesday's earthquake, San Jose, has seen nearly a dozen earthquakes of 5 magnitude or greater in the last 10 years, but several of them have been on the Calaveras fault, which generally runs just east of San Jose, more than 10 miles east of San Andreas at this point. Scientists do not yet understand whether the quakes on the Calaveras fault may have been a precursor, or somehow added pressure, on the San Andreas. But when a 5.1 earthquake did strike on the Calaveras in 1988, some earthquake scientists expressed concern that this could be the case. Between the late 1950s and 1979, there were no quakes of magnitude 5 or larger near the Bay Area. But in August, 1979, a 6.4-magnitude quake struck under Coyote Lake east of Gilroy and south of San Jose, and since then there have been a number of quakes. In August, Geological Survey scientists had expressed concern at the step-up in 5-magnitude quakes south of the Bay Area. They noted that a similar series of moderately strong quakes had preceded the San Francisco quake of 1906. Meanwhile, a New Mexico scientist who studies tidal forces, supported by two eyewitnesses, said Tuesday night that at a private lecture in San Francisco on Oct. 10, he had stated that a strong quake in the vicinity was probable on or about Oct. 16. Iben Browning, of Sandia Park, N. M., said he had based his prediction on an assessment of tidal forces caused by the moon's relationship with the Earth. He said he had decided to keep the assessment private because he feared that publicity about it would cause people to panic. MAJOR QUAKE DAMAGE 1 -- Major fires hit Marina District. 2 -- Civic Center area buildings damaged, a 4-story building south of Market collapsed, killing 5. 3 -- Central Freeway (101 inside San Francisco city limits) buckled and closed. 4 -- Embarcadero Freeway damaged and shut. 5 -- Interstate 280 from junction with Rt. 101 to downtown closed. 6 -- Candlestick Park damaged, evacuated. 7 -- San Francisco Airport closed, control tower reportedly in shambles. 8 -- Portion of San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge at eastern end collapsed; one person reported killed. 9 -- Bay Area Rapid Transit system shut down. 10 -- Double-decked portion of Interstate 880 (Nimitz Freeway) collapsed. Estimates were as high as 200 dead and hundreds injured. 11 -- Highway 17 in Oakland closed at Summit St. overcrossing because of collapse. 12 -- Oakland Airport closed. OTHER AREAS OF DAMAGE Major damage to interchange of Bayshore Fwy (101) and State Route 92 in San Mateo. Damage to 3rd Avenue overpass in San Mateo. Portions of Interstate 280 closed in Los Altos due to buckling. Two killed at Santa Cruz shopping mall. 
 There are events one never forgets. Anyone who was alive in 1963 remembers where he was when President Kennedy was assassinated. And anyone who was at Candlestick Park Tuesday night for Game 3 of the World Series will never forget. I was in a trailer just outside the stadium, about to watch the telecast when the earthquake hit. It was shortly after the network went on the air. My immediate reaction was that a jet was flying very low overhead, but soon I knew what was happening. To me, the earthquake was not as bad as the Whittier quake in October, 1987, mainly because I was awake this time. I opened the door to the trailer and looked out. The stadium was shaking and the special concrete joint -- one of several strategically spaced around the top of the stadium to prevent earthquake damage -- was doing was it was designed to do. It was opening and closing as if the place was made of cardboard instead of concrete. A few people were running out of the stadium, but there did not seem to be great alarm, because the quake did not last long. I walked into the stadium to interview fans. And again, I sensed little panic. Most people stayed in their seats, waiting to hear whether the game would be postponed. And later, when fans started leaving en masse, the reaction of those I talked to varied. Those who were sitting in the upper deck seemed considerably more shaken than those in the lower levels. LARRY STEWART 
 Recordings by Leonard Bernstein, one of the most documented conductors in history, will undergo expanded release programs following the conductor's death on Sunday, said representatives of the recording companies controlling the late Bernstein's catalogues. Executives of Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon, which control the bulk of Bernstein's recorded legacy, and BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal plan to step up timetables to deliver more Bernstein recordings to the marketplace. However, most of the repertory will be from previously released recordings, including some made early in his career. In fact, the only new recordings will be out next month -- as originally scheduled, reported Karen Moody, vice president of Deutsche Grammophon. These are recent recordings Bernstein made with the New York Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony), the Vienna Philharmonic (two Mozart symphonies and the clarinet concerto) and Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (Schubert's Symphonies Nos. 5 and 8). At Sony Classical (formerly CBS Records) in New York City, Peter Munves, director of marketing, said this week that in January the company will begin its three-year release of "The Bernstein Collection": "We will release 75 CDs of Bernstein performances, including not only symphonic music by Beethoven and others, but also oratorio performances -- works by Haydn, and the Requiems by Berlioz and Verdi -- and other music never before released on CD." At Deutsche Grammophon, also in New York, Wende Persons, director of promotion, reported: "We are looking at (Bernstein's) active DG discography, which contains over 100 different recordings, and making sure everything is available. "That's 120 titles (of standard classical repertory) and some of Bernstein's own (non-theatrical) music, plus another dozen videos." In his last years, Bernstein recorded exclusively for DG. In August, Deutsche Grammophon released in this country a 12-CD set of Bernstein recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic and L.A. Philharmonic. These recordings were made between 1977 and 1985 of music by Beethoven, Brahms, Bernstein, Haydn, Mozart, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin. Called "The Bernstein Edition," it is being sold concurrently in Europe in a 25-CD set. Karen Moody, vice president of the classical label, would not reveal sales figures for "The Bernstein Edition," but said: "I can say that it is selling very well in this country, surprisingly well, given the U.S. market aversion to CD sets." In Los Angeles, Carol Brown, West Coast manager of sales and marketing for BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal, told The Times on Thursday that her label now plans a March release of recordings by Bernstein conducting the RCA Symphony in Copland's "Billy the Kid" and a suite from Bernstein's "On the Town," recordings made in the 1940s, and representing the conductor/composer's first commercial recordings. BMG also plans, according to spokesman Carl Pritzkat, the spring release of an early Bernstein recording as pianist -- in which he plays Copland's Piano Variations -- as well as other recorded documents of the young composer/pianist. The entire Bernstein catalogue encompasses well over 200 classical recordings and occupies more than a full page in the Schwann catalogue. There is very little available on Bernstein in the home-video market, which is no surprise considering there are so few classical music titles on cassette. Three tapes of programs recorded in 1971, all on Phoenix/BFA Films and Video, are out: * "Bernstein on Beethoven: a Tribute," featuring Bernstein playing sections of Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major. * "Bernstein on Beethoven: Fidelio," with rehearsal and concert footage of Bernstein working with the Vienna State Opera Company. * "Bernstein on Beethoven: Ode to Joy From the Ninth Symphony," featuring the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic. Three movies whose scores he composed are also on home video: * MGM/UA's "On the Town" (1949), co-starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. The lyrics are by Adolph Green and Betty Comden. * MGM/UA's "West Side Story" (1961), featuring Stephen Sondheim's lyrics. * RCA/Columbia's "On the Waterfront" (1954), the Oscar-winner for best picture. Staff writer Dennis Hunt contributed to this story. 
 On Telegraph Hill, Jerry Lubenow got his biggest shock when he arrived at his apartment after the deadly earthquake. "There was no damage to our place or in our neighborhood," he said. The only thing Lubenow could figure out was that "Telegraph Hill is on rock." He then talked to friends who live on Nob Hill and Russian Hill, which are also situated on rock, and learned that their residences also avoided damage. "You almost feel guilty," he said, referring to his own good fortune. "(It's) like living through the blitz in London in the Second World War." Only a few miles away in San Francisco's affluent Marina District, dozens of fashionable townhouses were damaged or destroyed. Some buckled and pitched forward off their foundations into the street. Others appeared outwardly sound but sustained interior damage that rendered them uninhabitable. Why did some of the luxury, four-story apartment buildings collapse at the Marina while in nearby Chinatown, shops made of unreinforced masonry sustained little damage in the 6.9 temblor? Why did high-rises that form the elegant San Francisco skyline escape virtually unscathed while an office building in the city's southeast district peel apart, killing five pedestrians below? "The buildings that collapsed did so because of a combination of two things: very poor soil and very poor structural design," said Peter I. Yanev, chairman of EQE Engineering Inc., a structural engineering firm in San Francisco. "They were on top of the worst soil conditions in the city," explained Yanev, who said he has traveled to "all the major earthquakes" in the last 20 years studying their impact on construction. The soil beneath the Marina District, where six buildings burned down or collapsed, is made up of landfill partly dredged from the bay more than 70 years ago. Yanev said many of the buildings in the neighborhood were erected in the early part of this century when there were no earthquake codes. "What collapsed and killed some people were four-story apartment buildings that had garages built all the way along the bottom (floor)," Yanev said. "So, you have a bunch of garages underneath all these apartments. You effectively have no walls on one side of the building. The connections just break, and the front end falls into the street." Yanev called the two conditions a "disaster waiting to happen." "Should we have an earthquake centered off the Golden Gate Bridge instead of Santa Cruz, you'd probably have hundreds of these buildings collapse," he said. Experts said they did not anticipate that the Marina District would be the major problem in an earthquake. The worst areas, they believed, would be Chinatown and the Tenderloin, where brick buildings abound. Chinatown survived relatively intact, Yanev said, because it is located "up in the hills" atop "very firm soil," and the epicenter of the temblor was many miles away. In the city's high-rise office towers, a few broken windows and other cosmetic damage could be seen. A preliminary survey found only three skyscrapers rendered unsafe by the quake. But most buildings, including the landmark Transamerica Pyramid, were not touched. Jay Cahill, an owner of Cahill Construction Co., a contractor that built several high-rises in the city, said the earthquake codes "did their job." "What this quake proves is that the engineers were right" when they said tall buildings could withstand a strong quake, he said. They said the downtown buildings are constructed to withstand a quake of at least 8 magnitude with an epicenter in San Francisco. Earthquake experts said they were not surprised that the high-rises swayed with the earthquake while four-story buildings collapsed. "An earthquake means that the ground shakes, and that means force is applied to the sides of buildings," said George C. Lee, acting director of the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at the University of Buffalo. When architects design skyscrapers, Lee said, they factor in wind gusts and earth movement -- forces that are not considered as much when constructing smaller buildings. In smaller buildings, he said, contractors usually make sure that vertical forces -- such as snow and ice -- cannot force a structure to collapse. Throughout the Bay Area, residents were left to puzzle over why the earthquake savaged some buildings and bypassed others, much like San Francisco was left to wonder why the Marina District was hard hit and others spared. In Santa Cruz, initial damages were estimated at $350 million, and 30% of the downtown mall -- the heart of the city -- was severely damaged. An estimated 20 commercial buildings must be razed, a county official said. In Los Gatos, 30 miles northeast of Santa Cruz, portions of the downtown area were destroyed. Several dozen Victorian homes were shifted off their foundations, and numerous chimneys crumbled. San Francisco fire officials said as many as 60 buildings in the Marina District may have to be torn down because of structural instability caused by the earthquake. "Some of the buildings are extremely hazardous," Assistant Fire Chief Frank Blackburn said. "They are four-story buildings above garages. All they had were vertical columns holding up the structures. If you picture a building sitting on columns with no lateral support on those columns, when you get sideways motion, the buildings slide left and right." Blackburn said many residents are not going to be able to get their belongings out. "If a (big) aftershock comes, it'll collapse," he said. Buildings collapsed like cakes without yeast. One fourth-floor apartment dweller stepped through her window onto the street after her building crumbled beneath her. 
 "I've been wandering around San Francisco and it's like the blind man trying to feel an elephant. We're just now figuring out bits and pieces of this disaster." -- Tom Tobin, of the California Seismic Safety Commission. "It was like somebody slugging a punching bag. Usually earthquakes pass, but this one went on and on. It just wouldn't stop...It was very, very bad." -- Schoolteacher Flora Churnin, who was at her Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale when the earthquake struck. "At first I thought the smoke was fog. Then I could see a big ball of flame." -- Cecile Candone, who was driving south toward San Francisco from the Sonoma wine country when she spotted the Marina district fire. "This upper deck was absolutely shaking, the light stanchions were blowing back and forth." -- Suzyn Waldman, a reporter covering the World Series at Candlestick Park for a New York radio station. 
 In addition to the Leonard Bernstein tribute that is part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic program this weekend, other local orchestras are also planning special remembrances. Sunday at Royce Hall, the American Youth Symphony has added local composer Leon Levitch's Elegy for Strings -- a personal choice from conductor Mehli Mehta -- to the program to honor Bernstein, who died last Sunday. Also, opening the new season of the Glendale Symphony season on Sunday at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, music director Lalo Schifrin will observe a moment of silence to honor his longtime friend and colleague. Last Monday, KUSC-FM (91.5) devoted its entire day of live broadcasting, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., to performances -- as conductor and pianist -- and compositions of Bernstein, including an unusual recording from 1956 of him discussing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. KKGO-FM (105.1) also devoted a considerable amount air time to Bernstein's work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Another measure of grief came from the obituary section of the New York Times, which includes a section of special classified ads for public condolences at $15.85 a line. The outpouring of emotions following Bernstein's death filled almost 200 lines (15 inches of small type) and encompassed 14 separate tributes. Among the contributors were conductors Zubin Mehta and Kurt Masur, as well as Peter Martins of the New York Ballet and Christopher Keene of the New York City Opera. "Leonard Bernstein . . . is now being mourned by the entire world. I personally have lost a dear friend." wrote Mehta in his tribute. "I was proud to be associated with him at the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, both of which he considered family." "This is perhaps not unusual for a prominent member of the Jewish community involved with philanthropic activities," reported Irv Horowitz, the New York Times obituary editor. He said the biggest similar reaction he could recall came after the recent death of the mother of the New York Times publisher. "That was considerably larger," Horowitz said. The Bernstein family has requested contributions in lieu of flowers be made to the Bernstein Education Through the Arts Fund Inc., 25 C.P.W., Suite 1B, New York, N.Y. 10023. 
 Although they are a continent apart, the cities of Charleston, S.C., and San Francisco now share a fateful page in the ledger of time. They are the scenes of two of the century's costliest, back-to-back natural disasters: Hurricane Hugo and the Bay Area earthquake. There are dramatic similarities and profound differences in the ways these two cities were affected and altered in the first week after they were ravaged by two powerful forces of nature -- one that angrily swept across the land from the sea and one that violently rumbled beneath the earth. "From the standpoint of compassion, of all the people in America we can feel the hurt that the San Francisco area is going through the most," Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said Sunday, one month after Hugo hit. "We know it means, at best, the disruption of normal life for some time and, at worst, the loss of life." Charleston had warning. San Francisco did not. Unlike earthquakes, hurricanes can be tracked by planes and radar, their paths predicted with sufficient certainty for those in harm's way to secure property and to flee. Still, at least 28 deaths in the Carolinas are blamed on Hugo, while at least 60 deaths have been attributed to the Bay Area earthquake. Hugo, 500 miles across with winds topping 175 m.p.h., left virtually every street and every neighborhood littered with storm debris and 80% of the city's buildings with some degree of damage. Five days after the storm, many city residents remained inconvenienced, most without electricity, many without safe drinking water. Street lights didn't work. Broken glass and other debris left the roadsides lined with cars stopped by flat tires. By contrast the streets in most of San Francisco were passable within a day of the earthquake. Electricity was largely restored overnight. And most broken natural gas lines were quickly repaired. Restaurants in Chinatown, North Beach and along Fillmore Street were crowded Saturday night. Cable cars began carrying passengers Sunday and the curtain went up on the opera. "Their streets were immediately passable," said Charleston Police Chief Ruben Greenberg. "We were gridlocked for two days because of the debris." And a week after the hurricane, Charleston -- which like San Francisco has a tourism-based economy -- was still trying to cope with mountains of broken trees and shattered roofs. It was more than 10 days before restaurants and other stores began to slowly reopen and twice as long for night life to begin to return. Tour Buses Return By Sunday, tourists and tour buses could be seen outside hotels near Fisherman's Wharf and at other locations favored by visitors. Tourism is a $2.5-billion-a-year business in San Francisco. It took almost three weeks for businesses that cater to tourists to get back on their feet in Charleston. It's likely to take a lot longer for the tourists themselves to return in numbers that made it one of the city's biggest industries. Citywide, Charleston had 68 buildings collapse, compared to 60 buildings destroyed just in San Francisco's Marina District. In Charleston most of the damage could be quickly assessed. It was visible. In San Francisco much of the damage may still be undetected. Water mains and gas lines weakened by the heaving earth may not break for weeks or months. Structural damage to houses, in many instances, will become apparent over a long period of time. "When a hurricane is over, it's over," Greenberg said. "Not so with an earthquake. You have aftershocks." Charleston also escaped widespread damage to its infrastructure. "We lost no major economic area like the Bay Bridge," said Greenberg, who was once San Francisco's undersheriff and who returned with emergency supplies to help the Santa Cruz police. "That's an economic lifeline. All we lost was one minor bridge. They're going to have humongous traffic problems." Hugo left Charleston isolated from the world. Communications broke down soon after the storm crossed the coastline about midnight and it was daybreak before the nation began to learn of the widespread damage. Even local residents were left without any information. The hurricane knocked out all local television and radio stations, and local officials for almost two days depended on a Florida radio station to deliver vital information and warnings. Millions were watching the pregame World Series program when the earthquake struck, and instantly word was out that there had been a disaster. San Francisco stations were able to broadcast to residents who had battery-powered radios and TVs. Damage estimates from Hugo have ranged as high as $5 billion, while earthquake damage estimates Sunday reached the $6.6 billion mark. Besides that black page in the ledger of history, both San Francisco and Charleston also have another experience in common: Both have experienced frustrating delays in getting disaster relief from the federal government. Greenberg, who has now watched the federal government respond to two of America's worst disasters, said he sees relatively few differences between how the Federal Emergency Management Agency worked in South Carolina and Northern California. "There's nothing that needs to be done in a hurry with them," he said. "They just plop along like one of the horses at Disneyland. Just plop, plop, plop. They are repeating the mistakes of South Carolina in California." 
 Gov. George Deukmejian is right to call the Legislature into special session within the next two weeks to deal with the effects of last Tuesday's Northern California earthquake. With Congress already moving to grant up to $3 billion in relief, earthquake victims need to know that state officials are prepared to come up with the state's share of disaster and reconstruction aid as soon as possible, and as soon as is practical. Deukmejian should be commended, as well, for advising state officials to do all they can to expedite aid to earthquake victims without getting too tangled up in red tape. The governor is wrong, however, in his campaign to distance himself from the California Department of Transportation on the issue of what caused the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland to collapse, and what could or should have been done to have prevented it. While Deukmejian is not necessarily blaming Caltrans, he seems to be preparing himself for such investigatory questions as: "What did you know and when did you know it?" The governor's answer, which he has been repeating ever since the day of the quake, was that no one in Caltrans ever told him a freeway might collapse in an earthquake. He was shocked that such a thing would happen. This has the earmarks of a preemptive defense against any allegation that California stinted on highway reinforcement because transportation funds have been short during his administration, possibly because he had opposed a gasoline tax increase. There is keen interest, of course, in why the freeway collapsed, and whether something might have been done. The major reason is so that California can learn from the experience as it designs new roads and reinforces existing ones against the next quake. There has been no widespread outcry against the governor. While the Department of Transportation and the state Transportation Commission do exercise considerable control over the allocation of highway funds, the governor also sets general state priorities. The governor complained on Sunday that the highway engineers never came to him and told him that bridges or freeways might collapse in an earthquake. But no one who has lived in California more than a few months would rule out the chance that any bridge or freeway could collapse in the right kind of earthquake. California is on the edge of earthquake-related technology, but still does not know everything that needs to be known. The state learns more from every earthquake and a critical need now is to learn everything possible from Tuesday, Oct. 17. But it is also the time to concentrate on helping quake victims through these most trying days of their experience -- the period when the emergency response is over and people face the dreary details of restoring their life to some kind of normality. In the Bay Area, that includes hundreds of thousands of commuters who did not suffer personal damage, but face massive obstacles in getting to work. The governor and legislative leaders will meet again next Monday to determine the timing and agenda of a special session. It almost certainly would include a temporary gasoline-tax increase to deal with highway reconstruction and repair and possible general revenues for other forms of disaster relief. Existing law already gives the governor considerable discretion in diverting reserve funds on hand to the Office of Emergency Services for allocation to local governments. But the need could well exceed the present reserve. The scope of the disaster would seem to justify a temporary surcharge. The governor and Legislature should not wait too long to start the session, although they do not yet have precise damage estimates or know just how much the federal government will send to California. The Legislature can begin organizing its staff and committees now so the appropriate legislation can be passed as soon as that information is obtained. 
 I assume that anyone who was ever touched by the genius of Leonard Bernstein will have his own memory of the Renaissance man of music, as you aptly described him (Part A, Oct. 15). Mine dates back to October, 1948, when I was serving as an American volunteer in the Israeli army during the country's War of Independence. With a two-day pass in hand, I hitchhiked to Jerusalem, where the Israeli equivalent of the USO scrounged up a ticket for the evening's performance of the Israel Philharmonic, with Bernstein as the guest conductor. The audience was a mix of black-tie patrons and soldiers dressed in fatigues. Bernstein raised the baton for Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, emotional at any time, but never more so than for a people engaged in a life-and-death struggle. Toward the end of the first movement, machine-gun fire started crackling from the old city, held by the Jordanian Legion, and continued intermittently through the rest of the symphony. What would have been a distracting disturbance at any other time, melded, with the music as entirely appropriate to the mood and circumstances of the occasion. Lenny and the orchestra, never missed a beat. TOM TUGEND Sherman Oaks 
 One year after his election, Dan Quayle has achieved all he ever wanted: He has become dull. His coming-out party last Sunday was a true test of his new ability to not make news. He went on "Meet the Press." This was no small thing. During his entire campaign for the vice presidency, Quayle refused all requests from such national interview shows. He didn't appear on "Meet the Press" or "This Week With David Brinkley" or "Face the Nation." And he didn't do so because back then he was making too much news. His every slip, his every gaffe, his every goof was news. He was the stuff of nightly TV monologues. "A lot of people feel Quayle is just too inexperienced for a do-nothing job," Jay Leno once said. That joke was not only funny, but it got to the heart of a strange phenomenon: Americans didn't give a damn about the vice presidency (Mike Dukakis tried to make Quayle a major issue and failed), but some also felt that Quayle wasn't qualified for a job that had no qualifications. So when Quayle got to Washington, he got there with one goal: Support the President and make himself a very small target. Stay out of the headlines and give no reason for anyone to dump him in 1992. "We had asked him on the show a number of times," Christie Basham, senior producer of "Meet the Press" told me, "but he always declined. We renewed our request and then after saying he would not do the show, he changed his mind and said he would. It was the 42nd anniversary of the show and we wanted someone above and beyond the usual guest." And it says something about Dan Quayle's reputation that he would be considered "above and beyond" the usual guest. Normally, a vice president would not be. That's because vice presidents don't actually do anything. They don't run departments or make policy. They mostly wait for heads of state to expire. As George Bush once joked about his duties as vice president: "You die; I fly." But Quayle was considered a hot TV guest because he might screw up. He might make a mistake or say something outrageous or disagree with the President. None of this happened. The show was uneventful. Quayle answered all the questions put to him and he made little if any news. Some major newspapers didn't even bother to do a story the next day. It was everything Quayle had hoped for. I asked David Beckwith, his spokesman, why Quayle had waited so long to go on a major interview show. "Well, he wanted to concentrate on the more important part of the job," Beckwith said. "He wanted to solidify his relationship with the President and learn the inner workings of the administration." So why go on now? "It seemed like a particularly opportune week," Beckwith said. George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev had announced a summit. Central America was back in the news. And, oh yeah, Bush had said Dan Quayle would be on the ticket in 1992. "And Marlin (Fitzwater, Bush's spokesman) called and just suggested we do the show," Beckwith said. The selection of Dan Quayle had been Bush's first major (and some would say only) decision of his presidential campaign. He had input from a number of people, but Quayle was George Bush's choice. Many thought it was a terrible choice, but there is nothing like a victory to give everything a rosy glow. And Bush's announcement that Quayle would be his running mate again was Bush's way of saying: "I didn't screw up the first time. I made a decision and it was the right decision and just to show you how right it was, I am making it again." And now was the time for Quayle to go on "Meet the Press" and show everybody just how right George Bush had been. I asked Beckwith if Quayle had been pleased by how the show had gone. "He was especially pleased with the seriousness of the questions," Beckwith said. "A lot of the time, you never know what you're going to get into. Sometimes the questions can be not particularly serious." A typical example of a "non-serious" question often put to Dan Quayle is: "Why does everyone say your wife is smarter than you?" But Quayle got no questions like that last week. I asked Christie Basham of "Meet the Press" if Quayle had asked in advance who the questioners would be. "Yes," Basham said, "but almost all the guests do." Quayle's questioners were David Broder of the Washington Post and Elizabeth Drew of the New Yorker, both of whom stuck to serious questions. (If Quayle had been told the questioners were going to be Hunter Thompson and Jimmy Breslin, I have a feeling Quayle might have come down with laryngitis.) After the show, Fitzwater called Quayle to express his, and presumably the President's, pleasure at how Quayle had handled himself. Quayle had said very little and he had said it very well. "The very limitations of a vice president's role don't make him an ideal guest," Beckwith admitted. "Almost by job description, a vice president is not permitted to make serious news." And Quayle knows his future is in sticking to that. During the 1988 campaign, I interviewed Quayle and I came away with one overwhelming impression: Dan Quayle would run for President in 1996. And he will do so, I believe, by being a vice president who keeps his head down, his nose clean and his life dull. After all, it worked for George Bush. 
 A tornado slammed into a shopping district, a residential area and a school Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, injuring nearly 300 and trapping many others in their cars and homes, police said. "Several people are still trapped in vehicles and apartment complexes and shopping areas," said police spokesman Ben Jennings after the twister touched down between 4 and 4:30 p.m. in this northeastern Alabama city. Mayor Steve Hettinger said 14 deaths had been confirmed, with 285 people injured and about 500 displaced by the tornado that struck while city streets were filled with rush-hour traffic. Gov. Guy Hunt, at the state's disaster center in Montgomery, said rescue teams with cranes and floodlights would search the rubble through the night for injured or dead. "It may be tomorrow before we have a final count," he said. The governor said 50 National Guard troops were dispatched to the city, along with search and rescue equipment. Witnesses said the downtown Jones Valley Elementary School, the Waterford Square and adjacent Queensbury apartment complexes were reduced to rubble by the tornado. "The only thing left standing was a door frame," news photographer Mike Mercier said of the school, which was empty of staff and pupils when the tornado hit. Police reported one person killed in a car outside the school. Authorities said at least five were killed at Waterford Square apartments, three at a business school, Southern Junior College, which is located in a converted movie theater, and others in scattered areas. "Rescuers are digging in the rubble," state trooper W. L. Kelly said. He said two people were killed when the twister hit house trailers in rural areas east of Huntsville. The fifth death was reported near the shopping district. "We've called in troopers from around the state to help," Kelly said. The city is home to Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's Redstone Arsenal, but no serious damage was reported from the space agency or weapons testing center. Telephone communication and electricity were disrupted by the tornadoes and WAAY-TV, the only station still broadcasting, reported widespread damage. "It came in with a huge roar, an enormous amount of water, and it just started shaking and tearing at everything it could get hold of," said real estate broker Ike Carroll, who was in his car when the twister struck. "It started picking cars up and pushing them around . . . some of them upside down, some of them just strewn around," he said. Heavy overhead power lines "started snapping just like a circus performer would snap his whip," Carroll said. "All of these heavy arcing, flashing lines that were just popping and snapping over the top of us . . . it was as if you were looking into an arc-welder, they were so bright," he said. WAAY reported at least one person died when the roof of a business collapsed from winds that overturned cars in the area. A nearby shopping center also was damaged. Humana Hospital administrator David Miller said doctors were having difficulty reaching the hospital because of blocked roads. The National Weather Service earlier said a tornado hit the east Alabama hamlet of Mellow Valley, severely damaging at least one home and causing some injuries. Weather officials said people were trapped inside a collapsed house. A spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriff's Department said people were injured at one house in a rural area 30 miles east of Sylacauga. Another tornado touched down about 1:30 p.m. as severe weather swept across much of Alabama and the National Weather Service placed most of the state under a tornado watch. In Georgia, five people were injured, four critically, after a tornado struck two mobile home parks and an interstate highway near Palmetto. 
 Flamboyant former Defense Minister Michael Heseltine's challenge to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for leadership of the Conservative Party has caused a political sensation in Britain. A crucial first vote of Tory Members of Parliament (MPs) is scheduled for today, and if Heseltine should wrest control of the party from Thatcher -- the longest-serving British head of government in modern times -- she would also have to give up the prime minister's job that she has held since 1979. Here's a sampling of editorial comment on the contest that has stirred Britain: "The Thatcher era in British politics is almost over. . . . It is more likely than not that she is finished altogether. The coup de grace may not be delivered at this moment. The nature of the era that comes afterward is far from clear. But as a political force, she is condemned at best to an unrelenting rear-guard action which will end sometime in a humiliating abyss. . . . "The party may sullenly support her now, but they will ask the question again in the spring, knowing that if they do not do so the country will ask the same question even more pitilessly when the general election comes. . . . "An alternative, however, stares her in the face. . . . It is to acknowledge that an era has passed, and preserve its achievements by standing down, releasing her lieutenants and urging her party, in the interests of a vanished unity, to support Mr. (Foreign Minister Douglas) Hurd." -- Thatcher biographer Hugo Young in The Guardian "The contest for the leadership of the Conservative party . . . should not be occurring. . . . "It would be foolish to deny that, today, the prime minister is politically beleaguered as never before. . . . But the task of the Conservative party, in the year and more that remains before the next general election, must be to rally to enable Mrs. Thatcher to rebuild her personal position, and give her the confidence and support to win the fourth term she deserves." -- The Daily Telegraph "Who could have guessed . . . from watching the prime minister answer questions in the Commons that she was fighting for her life? She was as brisk and well-briefed as ever. . . . "Bloodied Margaret Thatcher may be. Bowed she most certainly is not." -- Daily Mail "British Conservative MPs must be prepared to reject Mrs. Thatcher when they vote in the party's leadership election. . . . It is no longer in the interests of the United Kingdom, which are now inextricably linked with the development of a strong and united Europe, for her to remain in office. "The European derives no satisfaction from reaching this conclusion. Apart from her domestic achievements in reviving the British economy in the 1980s, Mrs. Thatcher has contributed much more to the development of the European Community than she is often given credit for. . . . "But The European believes that her nightmare vision of Europe, of ill-intentioned people trying to destroy democracy, is not shared by most of the British people. They reject her view that pooling of sovereignty is no different from surrender. . . . "The Conservative Party faces a stark choice. Either it will reelect Mrs. Thatcher and see the United Kingdom slip into isolation as it is left behind the rest of the Community. Or it can choose a new leader who is prepared to participate genuinely in the argument about economic and political union." -- The European "A prime minister in total command for 11 years could not be unseated, and cherished policies abandoned, without an explosion within the party. It would take a Solomon to heal the divisions and prevent civil war. Frankly, we cannot see Mr. Heseltine in that role. "The Sun also deeply questions his ability to be a successful or even adequate prime minister. . . . This is the man who for the past five years has professed loyalty to the government and yet has been its most divisive force. We discern just one constant loyalty -- and that is to Michael Heseltine." -- The Sun "Mrs. Thatcher deserves better than to be dismissed in the shoddy and demeaning manner some Tory MPs are minded to have in store for her. To be defeated by the people in a general election, as was Winston Churchill in 1945, that was an honorable rejection. To be brought down by a vote of censure in the House of Commons, as was Neville Chamberlain in 1940 -- even that was a constitutionally respectable form of political demise. But what they are proposing to do to Mrs. Thatcher, unquestionably the greatest peacetime prime minister of this century, is quite simply unworthy. Her fate could be sealed, if her opponents have their way, behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms. . . . Persons of quality were always accorded the dignity of execution by ax or firing squad, rather than the humiliation of hanging. These plotters would like to dispatch Mrs. Thatcher, who almost single-handedly has won three elections, by the political equivalent of the rope. . . . "You can find Heseltines wherever you go. But there is only one Mrs. Thatcher. Handle with care. This valuable object is irreplaceable." -- The Sunday Telegraph "This newspaper has long maintained that the best result in the next general election would be for Margaret Thatcher to lead the Tories to a fourth victory. Sadly, the course of events has conspired to make that unlikely. . . . "The British have never liked Margaret Thatcher; but as long as she delivered the goods they respected her, and voted for her. When her government fails (as it has recently), that lack of affection turns to growing resentment. For reasons that are probably unfair and undeserved, Mrs. Thatcher is now a victim of that strongest public mood of all: time for a change. . . . "Mrs. Thatcher is right to feel bitter that a prime minister with her track record and prestige can be so easily challenged. If she goes, the manner of her ousting will leave much to be desired; no other party could so lightly dispose of its leader in government, this side of an election, largely for reasons of unpopularity. But the Tories have a nose for survival in power unmatched by any other party in the democratic world, and politics is an unforgiving business. The issue before Tory MPs . . . is not the reelection of Margaret Thatcher, it is the defeat of (opposition Labor Party leader) Neil Kinnock. That requires saying a reluctant goodby to Mrs. Thatcher, and the endorsement of Michael Heseltine." -- The Sunday Times 
 Embattled Margaret Thatcher remains leader of Britain's Conservative Party, and so the country's prime minister -- but only barely. She has survived a vote of confidence taken by her party colleagues in the House of Commons, winning 204 votes against 152 for former defense minister Michael Heseltine. But under Tory party rules, that margin, representing something less than a ringing endorsement, forces Thatcher to face a second round of voting on Tuesday. Other candidates could choose to stand against her, perhaps diluting the opposition vote and letting her claim the simple majority she needs to stay as party head. But her reelection is hardly assured. Polls show the Tories would do better in the next national elections with someone other than Thatcher leading them. But elections don't have to be called until mid-1992; Thatcher's public standing could conceivably increase by then. Thatcher has served as PM longer than anyone in this century. She led her party to victory in three elections, steered it through the war with Argentina to reclaim the Falklands, faced down the miners union in a long strike, moved -- often drastically -- to reverse Britain's economic decline and won a prominent place on the world stage. But 11 1/2 years in office is a long time. Memory and feelings being what they are, it is the mistakes and irritations of this long tenure that are more likely to be immediately recalled, while its achievements are left to history to salute. Thatcher is seen as having become increasingly autocratic at home and a somewhat tiresome scold within the European Community. Her government is deeply identified with high interest rates, inflation and a flat tax on every adult (in place of the property tax) that is generally regarded as hugely unfair. Ultimately, in the cold calculus of politics, the question that will most decisively sway Conservative MPs is whether they are more likely to win the next election with Thatcher at their head or someone else. Next week will bring the answer. 
 President Bush lost an irreplaceable pin supporting his mission in the Persian Gulf on Thanksgiving Day. He heard the news of Margaret Thatcher's resignation as he celebrated the holiday in the Saudi desert -- and it clearly came as a shock. In the State Department, too, it came as a shock. Americans who had come to take Thatcher for granted during her 11 years of power were not prepared for her passing. Thatcher had told the world that she would fight to a second ballot after her narrow failure to retain the premiership outright on Tuesday. The feeling everywhere was that Thatcher always stuck to her word. So no problem. Pass the turkey. Thatcher's friends all over the world had reckoned without the British Conservative Party, which had looked at the opinion polls, the bad economic news and an unpopular new tax and smelled a loss at the next election. They had reckoned without the hatred for the flamboyant Michael Heseltine among the middle-ranking party figures who risked losing their jobs and future prospects if the unpredictable "Tarzan" came to power. It was an extraordinary scene in the palace of Westminster on Wednesday night as one by one her own Cabinet members trooped sheepishly into Thatcher's office and told her, in their chosen code, that they "couldn't support her over the weekend" in the second round of secret balloting on the party's leadership. Therefore, if Heseltine was to be beaten, it had to be by someone else. After "sleeping on it," as one of her closest advisers put it, Thatcher reluctantly concluded that she had to go. Thus did the toughest fighter for shared British and American values since Winston Churchill become the first prime minister to be forced out of office by the Conservative Party since the failed war leader Neville Chamberlain. When George Bush recovered from his Thanksgiving surprise, he was generous in his praise. Two years ago, his words would have rung hollow. The President began his term in office without much trust in her. He had seen the influence she exerted over Ronald Reagan and was keen to be seen as his own man. He had heard her doubts over the pace of German reunification and the integration of Europe, and had been persuaded by his advisers that she stood against the United States' best interests. Gradually, however, that changed. At the beginning of the Persian Gulf crisis, the President deliberately sought Thatcher's analysis. It was her assessment of the threat to international security posed by Iraqi aggression that, according to British and American sources, set the moral framework for Operation Desert Shield. The pivotal moment was when she fielded press questions about Iraq on Bush's behalf in the Colorado mountain garden of the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Henry Catto; that marked the public turning point. She was able to articulate what Bush sensed was right. And he was able to defer to her without embarrassment, seeming almost gentlemanly in allowing her to go first. Bush is unlikely to reach such a rapport with any of her three potential successors. Heseltine is an exceptionally powerful orator, but it hard to see that helping the tongue-tied American President. Douglas Hurd, the urbane foreign secretary, is an English James Baker; the President already has a James Baker. John Major, the chancellor of the Exchequer and Thatcher's own choice to succeed her, may have views very close to Bush's. But he is mild-mannered, slightly clumsy and, although widely liked and admired by his friends, is almost wholly without international experience. The issue is no longer the Anglo-American "special relationship." It is Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who will go down in history as Washington and London's "last romantics." They were the ones who would each ditch their closest friends in order to support the other: Reagan when overruling Jeane Kirkpatrick's objections to the Falklands campaign, and Thatcher when blocking her own right wing's protests at the U.S. bombing of Libya from British bases. They shared the conviction that communism could be rolled back -- and she helped persuade him that Mikhail Gorbachev was a man who could be trusted. The powerful enunciation of that belief -- and its eventual vindication -- may be the last great achievement of the special postwar Anglo-American alliance. George Bush and Margaret Thatcher had something more simple in common, a pragmatic relationship of mutual respect and support that benefited both. British policy toward Iraq will not change suddenly under a new prime minister. The doubling of the size of the British gulf force on Thursday attempted emphatically to prove that. But as time goes by, Britain's allies will find that many certainties have passed along with Margaret Thatcher. If seductive deals emerge to save the face and the atomic-weapon factories of Saddam Hussein, her steadfastness will be sorely missed. And if Europe becomes more inward-looking and protectionist, blame those who booted out the prime minister whose final words to her Cabinet were, "It's a funny old world." Her memoirs deserve a more dignified title. 
 John Major, who was endorsed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as her successor and heir, was elected today as leader of the Conservative Party and will become prime minister. Major fell two votes short of the needed majority, but his opponents conceded defeat and Conservative Party officials declared him elected. Aides said Thatcher is "thrilled." Major, 47, her chancellor of the Exchequer, is the youngest person to be elected Britain's prime minister since the 19th Century. "It is a very exciting thing to become leader of the Conservative Party, and particularly exciting, I think, to follow one of the most remarkable leaders the Conservative Party has ever had," Major said. He called Thatcher "a very great prime minister indeed." Thatcher has made no public comment on what she will do next. She could continue to represent Finchley in the House of Commons, enter the House of Lords, write her memoirs or enter business. "Our job now I think is quite clear. We are going to unite totally and absolutely and we're going to win the next general election," said Major, who emerged smiling from his residence at 11 Downing St. Major won 185 votes, former Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine had 131 votes and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had 56 votes in a secret ballot election among Tory members of Parliament. "I congratulate John Major and thank him for a first-class campaign, fought without rancor or bitterness, which I believe lays the basis for the unity of our party," Heseltine said moments after the vote was announced. Hurd also quickly conceded. Within minutes, Cranley Onslow, chairman of the Conservative Party committee that supervised the election, announced that another ballot was not required and that Major was elected. Thatcher left her residence at 10 Downing Street to congratulate Major, who as chancellor of the Exchequer is her next-door neighbor at No. 11. Queen Elizabeth II will send for Major and ask him to form a Cabinet after Thatcher has handed in her seals of office at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday morning. Major was elected to Parliament in 1979, was appointed foreign secretary and then chancellor of the Exchequer last year. He attracted support from prominent figures on the right wing of the Conservative Party, although his friends insisted that Major's own views are more liberal than many supposed. He described himself as conservative on economic issues but liberal on social issues. Major epitomized the self-reliant, hard-working achiever whom Thatcher encouraged. Born March 29, 1943, the son of a circus performer, he left school at 16 and was a laborer and at one time a welfare recipient. Major became a banker and a Conservative Party activist and was elected to Parliament in the first Thatcher victory of 1979. He was appointed to a junior ministerial post in 1985, then to the No. 2 position at the Exchequer in 1987. He emerged as a possible heir-apparent when Thatcher appointed him foreign secretary in July, 1989, and then chancellor of the Exchequer three months later. 
 John Major, the 47-year-old chancellor of the exchequer who rose out of one of London's toughest neighborhoods and the unemployment line, was selected Tuesday as Britain's next prime minister. Major, whose father was once a circus trapeze artist, was elected leader of the Conservative Party to replace Margaret Thatcher, whose sudden resignation under pressure last week surprised the nation. Thatcher formally presents her resignation today to Queen Elizabeth II, who will then ask Major to form a new government. The Conservatives' choice of Major, a Thatcher protege, came after a battle pitting him against two other contenders for the party leadership, former Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd. The three-way race took shape last week when Thatcher, stunned by Heseltine's strong showing in the first-round voting for party leader, resigned. In the secret, second-round balloting among the 372 Tory members of the House of Commons on Tuesday, Major got 185 votes -- two shy of the total he needed for an outright victory. But as party members began preparing themselves for a Thursday runoff between Major and Heseltine, the runner-up, both Heseltine, with 131 votes, and Hurd, with 56, threw their support to Major. Thatcher said she was "thrilled" by Major's victory, adding that he was her personal favorite among the three contenders. Major becomes Britain's 18th prime minister and the youngest in this century. His election ensures the unity of the fractured Conservative Party, which now has become the favorite to defeat the opposition Labor Party in the next general election. Before Thatcher's resignation, the polls had been favoring Labor. Appearing outside his official residence at No. 11 Downing St., next to the prime minister's, Major declared Tuesday evening, "We are going to unite totally and absolutely, and we are going to win the next election." "It is a very exciting thing to become leader of the Conservative Party, and particularly exciting, I think, to follow one of the most remarkable leaders the Conservative Party has ever had," Major said. He complimented his rivals for a campaign based on "substance, not personality." When the results of Tuesday's vote were announced about 6:20 p.m., both Heseltine and Hurd said that they would vote for Major in the scheduled third runoff ballot on Thursday and advised their supporters to do the same. Party leaders, however, waived the third ballot -- which was expected to be unanimous -- and Major was declared party leader. After his appointment by the queen today, he is expected to name his Cabinet in a few days. President Bush, en route to Washington after a visit to Mexico, telephoned Major from aboard Air Force One to congratulate him. "The President said he looked forward to working with Major and to maintaining the special relationship" with Britain, said White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. In Washington, the State and Defense departments also welcomed the news. "We're very glad that it's all settled, and that it was able to be settled so quickly," a State Department official said. "We know John Major and expect to work well with him. We don't expect any change in U.S.-U.K. relations." After Major's election, Thatcher declared that she wanted everyone "to rally behind him." The prime minister had picked Major from among "backbenchers" -- those who are not party leaders -- as someone to watch several years ago and regarded him, aides said, as "a man of the people." With her support, he rose swiftly through the Department of Social Security and then the Treasury. Thatcher will remain a member of the House of Commons, representing the Finchley section of London. She and her husband, Denis, will move out of 10 Downing St. today to their house in the South London community of Dulwich. Thatcher may accept a peerage in the House of Lords as a hereditary countess, friends said, since earldoms (the male equivalent) are the traditional award to former prime ministers. That tradition was not followed by recent Labor prime ministers. Major is a high school dropout who made his name in banking before winning a seat in the House of Commons in 1979. He has few enemies and is regarded as a leader who can unify the party and, associates said Tuesday night, lead the Tories to victory in the next election, which must be held within 18 months, at a time of the party's choosing. He is not expected to introduce any major new policies but will take a more sympathetic view toward Britain's role in the European Community and has promised to review the controversial community charge, the so-called poll tax introduced by Thatcher. Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock, who likely will face Major in the next national election, immediately labeled him "more of the same" in the Thatcher mold. The Labor Party had expected to defeat an unpopular Thatcher in the next election. Jack Cunningham, Labor's campaign coordinator, argued that Major's victory was that of the "Thatcher candidate." Cunningham pointed out that 187 members of Major's own party, a majority in the House of Commons, voted against him Tuesday. That in a sense was true. With 185 votes in the three-way race, Major did not gain as many as the 202 votes Thatcher won Nov. 20, when Heseltine was her sole opponent. That vote -- while she was in Paris attending the summit meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe -- forced her into a runoff with Heseltine and ultimately cost her the party leadership. But in that vote, under the party's complicated rules, she needed a majority plus 15% and she fell four votes short. In Tuesday's ballot, only a simple majority was needed to win outright. The prime minister's downfall came after she had run into a stretch of unpopularity -- partly through her authoritarian manner, partly because of inflation and high interest rates and partly because of her unpopular new "poll tax." She also appeared to take an anti-European attitude toward her 11 partners in the European Community, which caused her long-serving Cabinet colleague and deputy prime minister, Geoffrey Howe, to resign and deliver a witheringly critical resignation speech. That speech led Heseltine, who had walked out of the Cabinet in 1984 in a dispute over how to aid of a defense contractor, to challenge Thatcher for the leadership in that first ballot last Tuesday. The prime minister's failure to gain the necessary majority forced her to reassess her position. Her closest advisers reported that her support in the House of Commons was eroding, friends said, so she decided to resign rather than risk the humiliation of a defeat at the hands of one of her own colleagues. At that point, on Thursday morning, both Major and Hurd, loyal members of her Cabinet, entered the race against Heseltine. Many Tories in Parliament were angry at Heseltine for his role in bringing down Thatcher, who had won three national elections during her 15 years as Conservative Party leader. Her 11 1/2-year tenure as prime minister was the longest in this century. Her confrontational style of leadership won her many admirers at home and abroad -- and many enemies, here and in the European Community. During the past few days, Major picked up strength among his colleagues, as opinion polls showed him to be the next most popular Tory after Heseltine nationwide. On Monday, Thatcher let it be known that she personally preferred Major to succeed her. Some commentators feared that Thatcher's revelation of her choice might harm Major -- with her comment Tuesday morning that she would make a "good back-seat driver." Labor members called Major "Mrs. Thatcher's poodle." But Major was the clear-cut victor in the balloting, held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday in a House of Commons committee room. After the results were announced, Heseltine declared that the election had been fought "without rancor and bitterness." To "lay the basis for unity," he said, he would ask his supporters to vote for Major in the expected third ballot on Thursday, as he himself would do. Soon afterward, Hurd did the same. A third ballot seemed certain until Cranley Onslow, who heads the Conservative Party organization called the 1922 Committee, which supervised the party election, announced that another ballot would not be necessary and declared Major the party leader. It was not immediately clear whether Hurd and Heseltine would join Major's Cabinet, though Major's aides indicated they would be offered roles in the government. Conservative Party members of all hues were elated by the result and by the fact that the short campaign was conducted in the most gentlemanly fashion, with no blood on the floor. The Labor Party, almost overnight, went from being the strong favorite in the next election to second place behind a Tory party led by Major. Recent opinion polls had suggested that any new leader would greatly enhance Tory popularity. Labor's Cunningham declared that the Conservatives' lead was "a temporary blip" and promised "to fight an election as soon as he (Major) names a date." TORY ELECTION RESULTS Despite being two votes short of a majority, John Major was elected leader of the ruling Conservative Party after his challengers conceded defeat. He will bwcome prime minister when formally confirmed by the Queen. John Major: 185 Michael Heseltine: 131 Douglas Hurd: 56 187 votes needed to win The Conservative Party holds 372 seats in the 650-seat Parliament 
 As a military coup attempt unfolded in their homeland 7,000 miles away, supporters of the rebellious soldiers engaged in a shouting match Thursday night with supporters of President Corazon Aquino at the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles. About 30 members of the Filipino-American Movement for a Better Philippines held a candlelight vigil outside the consulate on Wilshire Boulevard to express sympathy with the coup led by officers linked to renegade Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan. "We are calling for Mrs. Aquino to step down immediately," said Milo Castelo, 45, a Los Angeles attorney. He said the Aquino government is "inept and incompetent" and guilty of "rampant corruption." Castelo and a handful of the protesters then entered the office building and took the elevator to the 12th-floor consulate, where a coalition of four Filipino groups in Los Angeles that support the Aquino government had just completed a press conference. Half a dozen television news crews watched as the anti-government protesters confronted the acting consul general for the Philippines in Los Angeles, Willy C. Gaa. "We are in sympathy with the coup in the Philippines!" announced Eli Swing, 49, a Los Angeles real estate agent. The consul general remained silent, glaring at the protesters. But Danny Lamila, a representative of the Philippines Liberal Party, loudly defended the government. "These people staging the coup are criminals," Lamila yelled. "They are fugitives from justice!" After a few minutes, the 20 Aquino supporters in the room began chanting "Cory! Cory!" The anti-government protesters then left the consular offices and order was restored. Greg Santillas of the Campaign for Democracy and Independence said he believes that most of the estimated 350,000 Filipinos living in Los Angeles County oppose the military coup. "We're here not only to support the president, but also the democratic institutions," he said. "The military is a dangerous leftover from the dictatorship (of Ferdinand Marcos). We don't want the government to be a hostage to the military." Also present at the press conference was Andrea Aquino, 50, the niece of assassinated Marcos opponent Benigno Aquino, Cory Aquino's husband. "I support democracy and the government against the coup," she said. "I think it's about time these renegades are punished." 
 Philippine Vice President and opposition leader Salvador H. Laurel declined Saturday night to condemn the armed insurrection in his country and said the rebels "have the right" to try to seize power. Laurel also said that the rebels will not surrender to President Corazon Aquino's forces, as she has demanded. He predicted that the fighting may turn to civil war if reported rebel reinforcements arrive from Cebu, Mindanao and other islands. "I don't think this is going to end right away," he said in a suite in the Peninsula Hotel here. "I think it's going to be a long, protracted thing, even civil war." Although he grinned broadly and laughed often during the interview, Laurel denied that he was "cheering" for the rebels. He refused, however, to condemn their use of violence against a constitutionally elected government. "I don't want to prejudge their goals or objectives," he said. "Everybody should try to win with a ballot rather than a bullet," he added. "But democracy does not preclude that as a last resort." Laurel, who is known as Doy, broke with Aquino shortly after they took office in 1986 following a popular uprising that toppled former President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Since then, Laurel has criticized Aquino frequently in his role as head of the opposition Nacionalista Party. Laurel said he was in London early Friday when the Philippine fighting began. He flew to Hong Kong but was stranded here with scores of journalists because the Philippines' two international airports, in Manila and Cebu, have been closed since the fighting began. Laurel said 18 Nacionalista leaders were meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Manila late Saturday despite the presence of rebel holdouts in the hotel. He called the group his party's "junta," but said they have no ties to the rebels. Laurel criticized Aquino for asking the United States to help bolster her beleaguered forces Friday. U.S. officials have said F-4 Phantom jets flew over rebel aircraft to keep them grounded but did not drop bombs or fire. But Laurel said the U.S. fighter-bombers destroyed a Philippine air force fuel dump and other facilities at Sangley Point and fired rockets that killed civilians near Camp Aguinaldo, the armed forces headquarters. Laurel added that Aquino now is "completely beholden" to the United States just as exploratory talks on renegotiating leases for Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, the two largest U.S. military facilities abroad, are beginning. Laurel's companion, Homobono Adaza, a former member of Parliament under Marcos and a Nacionalista member, also defended the rebels. "These are the reformist elements," he said. "They are trying to reform the government." Laurel said the coup occurred because Aquino "failed to unite the nation" or the armed forces, leading to divided loyalties and fragmentation. He said she also failed to enforce the law "against graft and corruption" and had failed to deliver critical services. "There's a power shortage," he said. "A rice shortage. A transport crisis. The people are fed up. They're worse off than ever." 
 Queen Elizabeth II awarded former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the coveted Order of Merit on Friday and made her husband a baronet, which is a hereditary knighthood. From now on Denis Thatcher will be formally addressed as Sir Denis and his wife as Lady Thatcher, although she insisted Friday she wished to be known simply as "Mrs. Thatcher." "I have done pretty well out of being Mrs. Thatcher," said the former prime minister, who resigned Nov. 22 during a fight for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Palace insiders said Friday that one reason for the quick award of the Order of Merit, restricted to only 24 eminent men and women, was the queen's desire to demonstrate that there is no animosity between Britain's two most prominent women. In the past, Buckingham Palace sources and journalists assigned to the royal court have said that the two did not get along. "This puts (to rest) rumors that the queen and Mrs. Thatcher didn't like each other," said Harold Brooks-Baker, director of Burke's Peerage and an authority on the royal family. As a member of the Order of Merit, created in 1902, Thatcher joins such luminaries in the world of arts, science and politics as philosopher Isiah Berlin, historian Veronica Wedgwood, writer Graham Greene, violinist Yehudi Menuhin and artist Sidney Noland, as well as honorary member Mother Teresa. Deceased recipients include Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, missionary Albert Schweitzer and actor Lawrence Olivier. Contrary to some reports, the OM, as it is popularly called, does not precede all other British royal honors but ranks behind the Order of the Garter, which dates from 1348. Thatcher said she was "deeply honored and moved" by the award. At the same time, the queen gave a baronetcy to Thatcher's husband Denis, the subject of fictional letters from No. 10 Downing Street invented by the satirical magazine Private Eye about life as the prime minister's consort. Baronets date from 1611. Sir Denis' title passes upon his death to his son, Mark, who is married to an American, and will eventually pass to Mark Thatcher's son, Michael. With an OM, Thatcher can continue to serve in the House of Commons as the member from the North London constituency of Finchley. Burke's Brooks-Baker believes that Thatcher eventually should be made a hereditary countess, which in Britain is the female equivalent of an earl. Traditionally, retiring prime ministers of Britain were granted earldoms, although Churchill, for one, refused a peerage, preferring to remain in the House of Commons. 
 Their common ground pretty much ended when the miles of asphalt to the finish line did. By the time most people were starting their first cup of coffee Sunday morning, Benjamin Paredez Martinez of Ecatepec, Mexico, and Kathy Smith of Newport Beach were crowned winners in the San Diego Marathon at the Oceanside pier, efforts than earned them $2,000 apiece. The runs set records on the new North County course, but the times, even helped by warm breezes and clear, 74-degree conditions, were hardly blistering. Martinez, 29, finished in 2 hours 19 minutes 3 seconds, 36 seconds faster than Doug Kurtis of Northville, Mich. Smith's 2:43:05 seemed days quicker than the 2:52:12 posted by Escondido's Mindy Ireland. In years past, the marathon's mystery often has been who the leader was, not how he got there. Runners, often from Mexico, would register late, and race officials were at their wits end when the media screamed to know the identity of the leader. This year, officials made sure there were no mystery men out on the course. They knew who Martinez was, but no one was sure how he was able to practically appear out of nowhere to take the lead from Alfredo Rosas of San Pedro going into the 25-mile mark. What Martinez did, was start out slow and deliberate. Through an interpreter, Martinez said he started out running 5:15 or 5:20 miles. Rosas and a pack of as many as eight came out at a pace seven to 10 seconds quicker per mile. "I knew it would kill them, that they would never keep it up," said Martinez, who won with a 5:18-mile pace. "I had to have patience and run from the back." After the 14-mile mark, the pack has already thinned to just Rosas, Danny Bustos, Doug Kurtis and Ernesto Gutierrez, who ran single file for a time. Martinez and Martin Rodriguez Rivera held back, but Martinez soon heard a little voice that told him to move or be removed from contention. "The first 10-15 miles, I could have been in 1,000th place," Martinez said. "I didn't care. Then I got worried." Martinez left Rivera, and started on the chase. Since Martinez hadn't been seen earlier, it originally was thought the figure gainly ground slowly but methodically from Mile 21 to Mile 24 was San Diego's Henry Chio. Wrong. Martinez' late kick caught Rosas, who had broken away on his own for a three-mile lead at Mile 21, cramped and been surprised at the 23-mile mark. "I tied up, there was nothing I could do," said Rosas, who was third in 2:19.49. "As he started closing, that's when my legs really started getting sore. I tried to just hang on, to hang in there, but he shot ahead of me." Before Martinez took the lead for good -- a uphill surge at Mile 25 -- it appeared Rosas was hearing footsteps and was looking over his shoulder to see who was gaining on him. Not so, said Rosas. "The police on the bikes were telling me how close he was," he said. It was the second marathon in two weeks that Kurtis, 38, has run, and almost won. The Bangkok Marathon in November was his 13th of the year, his 112th to date. The only recurring theme in Martinez' and Smith's backgrounds -- other than the 26.2 miles they ran -- was that they are novices at long-distance running, this was their first victory at this distance and that they are both teachers. Martinez is a world-class biathlete who finished third at the World Duathlon Championship two weeks ago near Palm Springs. He has run only two marathons before Sunday. He teaches physical education in his hometown, 10-15 miles outside of Mexico City. Smith, 24, was a 5,000- and 10,000-meter specialist at Stanford but is now focusing on longer distances. She is a fourth- through sixth-grade teacher at College Park in Irvine. She was holding class with reporters long before Ireland, 39, was carried into a room for mandatory drug testing -- the United States Olympic Committee Drug Testing Program randomly selected this race to administer tests to the top finishers. "My goal was to come out here, be as low-key as possible and try to qualify for the trials," said Smith, who finished fourth last year and ran a personal-best time Sunday. She met and beat the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 2:45. Smith said she and Ireland ran together -- they even chatted -- through the 20-mile mark, until Smith got her feet working faster than her mouth. Having run with Ireland last year in the San Diego Marathon, Smith knew a little of Ireland's racing style. "She's really tough in the latter part of a race," Smith said. "I wanted to hang back with her, so then she could carry me through the latter part. She hung in pretty well with me." Smith earlier this year ran the Long Beach Marathon, where she finished seventh but has been concentrating on this distance for just a year. She is getting smarter about it. "Last year I led from Miles 13 to 22," Smith said. "This year's it's just a matter of maturity. And the hills were positive for me." Martinez said entered this event because he knew the field was weak and his chances were good. "I knew Rosas and Kurtis were good, but it was a relatively weak field," he said. But weak field or not, the 4,000-plus runners who participated in the event seemed to relish the experience, as all the problems the marathon has had to deal with faded as each runner crossed the finish line. "It's a beautiful course, and this was a great marathon," one runner told race director Lynn Flanagan. "I can't believe it went off so well," said another to a volunteer. "You'd never know anything had happened that was at all an inconvenience." DeAnna Sodoma of Escondido won her first marathon wheelchair race in 2:17:52; Saul Mendoza Hernandez of Mexico won the men's division in 1:57:50. James Sheremeta of San Diego won the men's half marathon in 1:08:59; Jeanne Lassee-Johnson was the women's half winner in 1:16:15. 
 Laughter and tears flowed freely as the Broadway theatrical community said goodby Thursday to Leonard Bernstein at the Majestic Theater. Longtime friends and colleagues -- those who knew him as Lenny -- paid tribute to the musical-theater dynamo with heartfelt and humorous words, and often in song. The capacity audience -- invited friends, relatives and theatrical personalities as well as 850 members of the public who started lining up at 7 a.m. -- heard recollections of an energetic Bernstein who danced until dawn in discos as well as a poignant account of his final days. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for "West Side Story," hosted the 75-minute tribute to Bernstein, 72, who died Oct. 14. "Wherever Lenny was, was theater; his every move was a stage direction," he said, as many in the audience laughed knowingly. Another "West Side Story" collaborator, director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, had earned a laugh before he even spoke, thanks to Laurents' introductory words: "Fearless as Lenny was, there were two figures he did fear -- God and Jerome Robbins." After noting that he wished he were young enough to pay homage to Bernstein by performing the sailor's variation he created in the ballet "Fancy Free," Robbins, 72, recalled that halcyon 1944 collaboration between the two 25-year-olds. He also reflected on the joyous nature of their 1957 "West Side Story" collaboration, even while the show faced repeated obstacles before reaching Broadway. "Lenny's music was the lifeblood of that show. His theater scores weren't just a collection of songs but were more like a symphonic work," noted Robbins, who also collaborated on several other ballet and theater works with Bernstein. He concluded in subdued tones, "We have lost a maker and shaker of our century. A light went out for me." Carol Lawrence, the original Maria of "West Side Story," sang a medley of "I Feel Pretty" and "Tonight." The "West Side Story" reunion was not as complete as had been scheduled; Larry Kert was unable to be there, and Stephen Sondheim (who, then a newcomer to Broadway, wrote the lyrics) could not attend due to illness in his family. Original cast members from Bernstein shows sang numbers they had helped launch into history. Nancy Walker sang her sassy "I Can Cook Too" from "On the Town." Her fellow cast members, Betty Comden and Adolph Green (who also teamed with Bernstein as the show's creators), after fondly recalling their 50-year friendship with Bernstein, poignantly sang the show's bittersweet finale, "Some Other Time." Barbara Cook, the original Cunegonde in Bernstein's "Candide" (1956), displayed her still-gleaming voice in "A Simple Song" from Bernstein's 1971 "Mass.." "Candide" itself was represented by "Glitter and Be Gay," the coloratura aria Cook made famous, as performed by Constance Haumann. Winging in from the West Coast (as was Walker) was Lauren Bacall, who teamed up with Phyllis Newman for a sly rendition of "Ohio" from Bernstein's "Wonderful Town." Kurt Ollmann, familiar from Bernstein's 1985 "West Side Story" recording, sang "Take Care of This House" from Bernstein's last (1976), unsuccessful, Broadway show, "1600 Pennsylvania Ave." -- a work the composer often spoke of wanting to revise. Bernstein's son, Alexander, delivered a funny, knowing, affectionate talk about his father's unappreciated skills as an actor, singer and dancer as only a family member could know them. Michael Wager, a very close friend of Bernstein's who was with him at the end, spoke movingly of how difficult it was for Bernstein to continue when illness had robbed him of his creative energy. Marilyn Horne closed the program with "Somewhere," the emotional anthem from "West Side Story," after which Laurents directed the audience's attention to the large photo that hung over the stage: an exuberant 39-year-old Bernstein, nearly levitating outside the theater where "West Side Story" had opened in Washington. Since "Lenny didn't like silence," Laurents asked instead for a final round of applause for the man who inspired and moved so many people for so many years. The audience responded with a sustained standing ovation. 
 World leaders from President Bush to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev today praised Andrei D. Sakharov as a tremendous force for freedom who outlived his Soviet persecutors and saw the liberty he championed take root throughout Eastern Europe. The 68-year-old scientist and human rights activist died Thursday of an apparent heart attack in his Moscow apartment. The Soviet Congress stood for a minute of silence for their colleague, once considered a national hero for discovering the Soviet hydrogen bomb but later reviled by Kremlin leadership for his uncompromising stands for human freedom. Gorbachev, who freed the physicist from seven years of internal exile, called Sakharov a "man of conviction and sincerity." "It's a great loss," Gorbachev said. "He was a person who had his own ideas, his own convictions which he expressed openly and directly. This doesn't mean I agreed with him, although on many things we did agree." One Soviet lawmaker called Sakharov a man "such as maybe appears once in a hundred years." Bush said that "all of us are diminished" and that Sakharov "embodied all of what is good and decent in the human spirit." Bush, in a message of condolence to Sakharov's widow, Yelena Bonner, said: "All of us who knew him will never forget his courage and devotion to freedom. . . . Just as he truly enriched all of us with his life, all of us are diminished by his untimely death." Aase Lionaes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awarded Sakharov the Peace Prize in 1975, said he "fell in the struggle for democratic reforms. His death represents a great loss, especially at a time with hopes of a positive development in the Soviet Union and in all Eastern Europe." Political leaders worldwide commended Sakharov as a man whose causes went beyond ideology. Lech Walesa, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said Sakharov's death was "a great loss for reform both in the Soviet Union and everywhere else." "He was just a remarkable person," said British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. "He was one of those who would always say the truth must be found and was never afraid of stating that and letting everyone know." "It is just sad he will not be preeminent in the freer future of the Soviet Union," she told reporters in London. In Strasbourg, France, the 518-member European Parliament unanimously paid tribute to Sakharov, whose name it had given to its Human Rights Prize. In Brussels, the NATO foreign ministers hailed Sakharov as a pioneer who helped change Soviet society. NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner said, "The ministers expressed deeply felt sense of loss at the passing of Andrei Sakharov." 
 British Prime Minister John Major said today that Iraqi troops will have to be "forcibly removed" from Kuwait if President Saddam Hussein does not agree to withdraw them peacefully. Major, just as unyielding in talking about Hussein as was his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, rejected the notion that a partial Iraqi pullback from Kuwait would help bring about a solution to the crisis. "A complete withdrawal is necessary, a partial withdrawal won't do," Major said in a display of solidarity with U.S. policy on the Persian Gulf. On the gulf issue at least, Major's remarks augured well for his talks with President Bush late in the day at Camp David, the Maryland presidential retreat where the two leaders were planning an overnight stay. Major, who arrived here Thursday night for a 40-hour visit, wasted no time in going on a rhetorical offensive against Hussein, using a succession of four television interviews aired shortly after dawn. "If he stays in Kuwait, in a country which essentially at the moment is rather like a prison camp, a country that he's dismantling day after day, then he will have to be forcibly removed," Major said. "I hope it won't come to that -- everyone hopes it won't come to that -- but it could." At the same time, Major demonstrated the kinder, gentler face he has brought to British politics since his accession, showing none of the abrasiveness that was a Thatcher hallmark. In contrast to Thatcher, he was polite to reporters questioning him. Comparing Major and Thatcher, one U.S. official said, "The biggest change is personal style." Consistent with the U.S. view on the gulf, Major said: "There is nothing whatsoever to negotiate about." Hussein, he said, "has to go." 
 (box) SEATING CAPACITY: 74,315.; (box) KICKOFF: 3:18 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.; (box) PLAYERS SHARE: The winners will get $36,000 per man. The losers will get $18,000 per man.; (box) SUDDEN DEATH: If the game is tied at regulation time 60 minutes, it will continue in sudden death overtime. The team scoring first (by safety, field goal, or touchdown) will win. At the end of regulation playing time, the referee will immediately toss a coin at midfield, in accordance with rules pertaining to the usual pregame toss. The captain of AFC team (the visiting team) will call the toss. Following a three-minute intermission after the end of the regular game, play will continue by 15-minute periods with a two-minute intermission between each such overtime period with no halftime intermission. The teams will change goals between each period, there will be a two-minute warning at the end of each period.; (box) TROPHY: The winning team receives permanent possession of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, a sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany &amp; Company and presented annually to the winner of the Super Bowl. The trophy was named after the late coach Vince Lombardi of the two-time Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers prior to Super Bowl V. The trophy is a regulation silver football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three concave sides. The trophy stands 20 3/4 inches tall, weighs 6.7 pounds and is valued in excess of $10,000. The words "Vince Lombardi" and "Super Bowl XXIV" are engraved on the base along with the NFL emblem.; (box) ATTENDANCE: To date, 1,953,690 have attended Super Bowl games. The largest crowd was 103,985 at the 14th Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. 
 Things are different; He says he only wished the black community could have shared in some of the considerable profits generated by one of America's greatest sports events.; "The Super Bowl is about money," Carley said last week. "And last time we were basically onlookers."; Things are a lot different this time around. This year, Carley is the co-chairman of one of the featured events of Super Bowl week, the Bambaleo Parade, a Saturday extravaganza with marching bands, a street festival and floats.; The grand marshal of the parade will be Lee Roy Selmon, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer.; Other events will include a salute to black sports legends and a Doug Williams golf tournament.; 'Much more involvement'; This year, the Super Bowl Task Force, a group headed by two of the city's most influential white businessmen, named two black men to head a community-relations committee.; But perhaps most important, Carley said, several minority-owned businesses have won lucrative contracts from the NFL for the game.; "There's much more involvement this time, black and white," said Carley, who is the affirmative-action officer for Hillsboro Community College.; "There's been a heightened awareness. In 1984, there was not even a thought given to a black man."; About 100,000 visitors, many of them corporate and political movers and shakers, were expected to arrive in Tampa this week for the festivities leading up to the game Sunday.; The game itself, which is televised to 750 million people around the world, is only part of an event whose impact on a city has been compared to that of a national political convention.; Hotels, restaurants and other businesses are anticipating an estimated $125 million in revenues, with a total economic impact of $200 million.; 'It's a bay window'; "The Super Bowl introduces you to the world in a big way," said Barbara Casey, the coordinator of the Super Bowl Task Force. "You don't have to say Tampa, Fla., anymore."; The Super Bowl also can highlight a community's problems, and bring the frustrations of many of its members to the surface.; "It's more than a window into a town," said Jim Steeg, director of special events for the NFL. "It's a bay window."; Last month, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he would stand by his recommendation to move the 1993 Super Bowl out of Tempe, Ariz., because the state does not have a holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King.; A week before the Super Bowl in Miami two years ago, the fatal shooting of a black man on a motorcycle by an Hispanic police officer in the predominantly black Overtown neighborhood set off three days of looting and torchings of buildings and cars.; While the disturbances were not caused by the Super Bowl, the NFL was criticized at the time for not making enough of an effort to include minority-group members in the festivities.; "I think Miami was the awakening for a lot of people," Carley said.; In Tampa, Super Bowl XXV brought about the cancellation of what was the biggest annual event in the city for 86 years: the Gasparilla Parade, an extravaganza that featured 500 of the city's most powerful men swaggering through the streets dressed as gun-toting pirates.; Tampa officials made the parade part of their pitch to the NFL for the Super Bowl. But after Tampa was awarded the 1991 Super Bowl, a racial dispute erupted over the parade, which always has been sponsored and organized by an all-white, all-male private club, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.; The club's top officials refused the demands of a coalition of black residents, including Carley, that the club be integrated immediately. Instead, they canceled the parade.; The Super Bowl Task Force had to scramble to put together a new parade, and Carley became the co-chairman of that effort.; SUPER BOWL XXVI; Super Bowl XXVI will be played Jan. 26, 1992, in the Metrodome. It will be Minneapolis' first time as the host city. The last time the Super Bowl was held in a cold-climate city was in 1982, when the 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 in Pontiac, Mich. 
 McFadden and his wife, Taffe, run their dog handling business in Campbell and do it primarily for the enjoyment and satisfaction it brings. Those who think you can get rich handling dogs are barking up the wrong tree.; "We make a good living but the overhead is high and the hours long. Before a show we sometimes work around the clock brushing and cleaning the dogs, working on their coats," said McFadden. "And breeds such as poodles have to be highly trimmed."; McFadden said he handles an average of 20 to 25 dogs at each show and works around 120 shows a year all over the U.S. The dogs are frequent winners in best of breed and best of show categories. "We finish with close to 100 champions a year," he said.; As a handler, McFadden emphasizes that he doesn't do obedience training. His job is to trim and condition the dogs and prepare them physically and mentally. The aim, he said, is to have a "confident and happy dog" entering a competition.; Over the last seven years, McFadden and his wife have shown dogs representing approximately 75 percent of the 135 breeds of dog. Taffe McFadden, a Vancouver, British Columbia native who has been involved in dog handling since she was a child, specializes in poodles. The couple also owns two standard poodles and breed wire fox terriers.; McFadden's latest product, a Kerry blue terrier named Kerrageen's Hotspur, won the best of show prize at the 81st Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show held Feb. 2-3 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. More than 2,000 purebred dogs participated in the national competition.; It was the 37th best in show win by Kerrageen's Hotspur, making him the top Kerry blue terrier of all time. The dog is owned by Bryan Percy and Judy Hertwell of Seattle.; Kerrageen's Hotspur was scheduled to join McFadden in New York City last week for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Recognized as one of the most prestigious shows in all of dogdom, Westminster is also, with the exception of the Kentucky Derby, the longest continuous sporting event held in the U.S. 
 Woof.; In this house, man and dogs speak as one. Their relationship is unusually tender. One need only listen while Wegman murmurs to Fay Ray and Battina, her 1 1/2-year-old daughter.; On Valentine's Day, for example, he said, "I'll take them out and play with them longer."; "But I don't want to be known as a dog zombie," said Wegman, who did go to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show without the dogs. "I go to movies and have friends and play sports. I swim, play tennis and wind surf."; Battina begs to differ. "When Bill leaves, Batty howls," said Andrea Beeman, an assistant to Wegman.; Man and dog; Their home is one floor of a former Orthodox synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. During a recent visit, it was possible to see how the artist gets two even-tempered, relaxed, normal dogs to slip into florid housedresses or scratch each other's backs. The three simply adore each other.; "I'd never heard of Weimaraners," said the artist, who was born 47 years ago in Longmeadow, Mass. His life with Weimaraners began in 1970, the year he bought a new video camera and Man Ray, a puppy that cost $35.; Wegman had never photographed dogs before, but Man Ray was a perfect subject.; "He was gray and neutral," the artist said. "I could do him as a dog, a man, a sculpture, a character, a bat, a frog, an elephant, an Airedale, a dinosaur, a poodle. I never got tired of him."; A dog's life; Had he been a different breed he would have been a "character actor," Wegman said, "like Lassie."; When Man Ray, who had become world famous, died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 11 years and 8 months, the artist mourned. "I dreamed that he came back to life," said Wegman, who spent three years living without a dog. "It was kind of liberating, the years I didn't have a dog."; In 1984, however, he got another Weimaraner, which was stolen. Yet another dog died of Parvo, a virus. In 1985, he got Fay Ray, who is now a familiar face not only among artists but among children who watch "Sesame Street."; As a breed, Weimaraners combine "a lap-dog sensibility with a hunting capability," the artist said. They curl up on his lap, but since they are pointers, they can hold a pose.; They are also good companions for an artist. They are affectionate. They do not drool. They have style.; Like world-famous fashion models, these dogs are lean, supple and fit. In Wegman's home, which comprises 2,000 square feet with 20-foot-high ceilings, they live a life unencumbered -- one assumes -- by thoughts of fame or fortune, and seldom hunger.; Each morning Wegman feeds them Eukanuba dog food, which he considers the best around. "It's the highest in protein." he said. He often adds a spoonful of plain yogurt or cottage cheese. The dogs eat again at 6 p.m.; The house is designed for both human and canine comfort. There is nowhere that Wegman goes that the dogs do not. The yard is a run of dirt and concrete. If their master does not play with them, the dogs just scratch, sniff, get bored and go to the door to wait for him. 
 First accounts of the accident were reported Sunday in Kenyan newspapers. Two English-language dailies said the accident occurred one mile off the coast, but a third said it was six miles away.; Police, navy divers, tourists and local residents had recovered about 130 bodies by Saturday afternoon, but 50 victims were believed still trapped in the sunken vessel, according to the newspapers.; Confirmation from local authorities of the accounts was not immediately available.; The boat with the refugees had set sail from the Somali town of Kismayo, 250 miles north of Malindi, on Feb. 26.; It was one of a stream of vessels that brought thousands of Somalis seeking refuge to Kenya since rebels overthrew Somalian President Mohamed Siad Barre in late January. The victory followed a month of heavy fighting in Mogadishu, capital of the East African nation.; The fighting appears largely to have stopped since the rebel United Somali Congress established an interim government, but refugees continue to arrive in Kenya.; Abdi Mohammed Ali, a survivor, was quoted as telling the Standard newspaper that most of those who drowned were on the ship's lower deck.; First word of the accident came when two survivors staggered into the Jambo Club tourist hotel, manager Barney Ngare was quoted as saying by the Sunday Nation.; The hotel sent a small boat to help save those still on the sinking vessel, but rescue workers had to cut the lifeline when too many people grabbed hold, according to Ngare.; Another boat sent by the hotel ferried 15 people at a time to shore, said the Nation.; Eleven Somalis drowned when a boat capsized off Kenya near Lamu, north of Malindi, on Feb. 1. 
 Most of the country's 1.2 million coal miners are still working, but output in some key regions has been halved, saddling Gorbachev with a substantial labor and fuel problem even as he struggles to revive the Soviet economy.; The strike is the new union's first major test of strength. It began March 1 as a warning action in the Karaganda coal field of Kazakhstan and the Krasnoarmeisk area of the Ukraine but gradually spread to all of the country's major coal regions.; The strikers are seeking wage increases of at least 100 percent, better working conditions and earlier retirement. They claim the government has not kept promises it made to raise miners' living standards as settlement of a nationwide coal strike in July 1989.; The 1989 strike, which involved more than 500,000 miners, made only economic demands. This time, Shushpanov said, the miners also want three major political concessions.; First, he said, they want "real sovereignty" for the 15 Soviet republics. They are unhappy with Gorbachev's proposed Union Treaty, which would leave the central government in control of the economy, defense, foreign policy and communications, he said.; Second, the union is demanding more power for Gorbachev's Federation Council, which includes the presidents of all the republics.; Finally, the union wants a "law on property" that would define what belongs to the government and allow private ownership of land and industry, including some mines, he said.; According to the state news agency Tass, the strike has spread to the Donetsk coal basin of the Ukraine, the Vorkuta and Inta regions of northern Russia, and the Kuznetsk coal basin of western Siberia. 
 Another victim was Dr. Nicholas Davies, president-elect of the American College of Physicians, a 60,000-member industry group, said Dr. Louis Felder, who worked with Davies at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. None of the 20 passengers or three crew members aboard Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 survived.; The crash followed by one day the plane-helicopter collision that killed Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six other people.; Tower, 65, and his daughter Marian, 35, boarded the 30-passenger, turboprop Embraer 120 in Atlanta and were headed to Sea Island, off the Georgia coast, for a party in Tower's honor.; Officials said they did not know the cause of the crash. The plane was descending in clear weather, authorities said, when it went down at 2:47 p.m. about three miles northeast of the runway at the Brunswick-Glynco Jetport.; Witnesses said the plane appeared to have fallen straight from the sky.; "It just went straight down. There was no cropping of trees," said Lt. Jack Hopper of the Glynn County Police Department, quoting witnesses.; "It started in on its nose, and I knew it was in trouble," said James Griner, who lives a quarter-mile from the airport. "I went to the plane, but I couldn't get to it because of the fire. . . . When I got to it, it looked compacted."; Atlantic Southeast's senior vice president, John Beiser, said officials had no indication from the pilot that the flight was in trouble.; Donald Day, the airline's manager of consumer affairs, described the aircraft as "extremely sophisticated and fuel-efficient, one of the backbones of our commuter fleet." He said the plane was new and had been put in service in December.; The Brazilian-made Embraer 120 is manufactured by Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA. In 1984, an Embraer 110 Bandeirante, an earlier model of the 120, crashed in Jacksonville, Fla., killing 13 people. The Federal Aviation Administration subsequently ordered an inspection of all Embraers for possible sheared or worn rivets in the tail sections.; Tower's death prompted words of grief and praise among his former colleagues on Capitol Hill, even those who helped derail his elevation to the Cabinet in 1989.; "I'm deeply saddened by the loss of John Tower, a tough, able friend and patriot," said Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, who broke ranks with most Democrats to support President Bush's nomination of the 24-year Senate veteran to be defense secretary. "He was intelligent and had independence of judgment."; Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who led the successful fight against Tower's confirmation, said: "America had lost a patriot. . . . He fought for freedom and worked diligently to make the world more secure."; "It's so sad," Bush said. "It is a tragic loss." 
 And for the sentimentalists, there will be 83-year-old Johnny Kelley starting in his 60th Boston Marathon. There have only been 35 editions of this race run without him.; The last three Boston marathons have turned into reckless speed duels. They have produced five of the top 10 times and eight of the top 15 in the race's storied history.; They also have resulted in a race of attrition, with many of the early speedsters burning out completely or faltering in the late stages.; Along the historic route that begins in Hopkinton, west of Boston, and ends in Copley Square in the Back Bay section of the city, checkpoint records have fallen at an alarming rate.; For example, all 11 checkpoint records were shattered through the first 20 miles last year, either by Simon Robert Naali or Juma Ikangaa, both of Tanzania. Neither won.; The winner was 1988 Olympic champion Gelindo Bordin, who outsmarted the early pacesetters by running a patient, calculating race.; Running alone about 200 meters behind a pack of six Africans, Bordin passed them all by 21 miles and went on to win in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 19 seconds, the second-fastest time in the race's history, behind only the 2:07:51 by Rob de Castella in 1986.; Ikangaa finished a distant second in 2:09:52. It was his third consecutive runner-up finish in Boston.; Ikangaa is back again, along with several other formidable Africans. They include Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya, the 1988 winner in 2:08:43, the third-fastest time in Boston and one second ahead of Ikangaa; Abebe Mekonnen of Ethiopia, the 1989 champion in 2:09:06, Boston's eighth-best time; Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya, the 1987 world champion and 1988 Olympic silver medalist who is making his Boston debut; and Naali, the third-place finisher in the 1990 Commonwealth Games.; Among those chasing them will be John Treacy, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist and the third-place finisher in Boston in 1988 and 1989; Geoff Smith, the Boston winner in 1984-85; Ed Eyestone, the top-ranked U.S. marathoner; Salvador Garcia, the runner-up to Wakiihuri in last year's New York City Marathon; and Rolando Vera, who finished third in his marathon debut in Boston in 1990.; The women's division also is filled with many respectable entrants.; Foremost among them are Kristiansen, the 35-year-old Norwegian who holds the world record of 2:21:06 and won in Boston in 1986 and 1989, and Samuelson, 33, the U.S.-record holder at 2:21:21, 1984 Olympic gold medalist and Boston champion in 1979 and 1983.; Challenging them will be Uta Pippig, Wanda Panfil and Kim Jones.; Pippig finished second in Boston last year in a career-best 2:28:03. Panfil won the London Marathon in 2:26:31, her personal best, and won the New York City Marathon in 1990. 
 He is the most important person ever to come out of this town, and even as the world considers his fitness for the presidency, Huntington is celebrating his life in what is ambitiously being billed as the Premiere Dan Quayle Memorabilia Exhibit.; To those who say Quayle does not merit his own exhibition, Quayle devotees say with a mixture of defiance and dignity that he is, after all, the vice president of the United States.; "We're preserving history," says David Schenkel, the exhibition coordinator. "A century from now someone may want to do a dissertation on him."; If so, Huntington will be ready.; Relatives, former classmates and longtime neighbors of Quayle have donated yearbooks, report cards, poems, letters, his Little League uniform, a coffee cup he drank from, a chair he once stood on during the 1988 presidential campaign and just about anything else he ever touched, wrote, signed or posed for.; The vice president's mother, Corinne, donated a lock of his baby hair. The 1972 Indianapolis 500 queen produced a picture of Quayle, then an aide to Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb, accompanying her to the race. And a former housekeeper turned in a 20-year-old piece of carpeting she saved from one of Quayle's floors.; The exhibition, which runs through May 20, was put together by the Dan Quayle Commemorative Foundation, a sort of fan-club-turned-archive devoted to documenting the life and times of the nation's 44th and, they say, least-understood vice president.; "He has taken such a bad rap," said Schenkel, a foundation board member. "If people knew him, they'd see he's a regular person. If they had a chance to sit down with Dan as a neighbor, they would see the extremely good values in the man."; These are the faithful, who have long since stopped expecting "good press" on their man. Instead they measure news reports on him by their relative negativity, describing the best coverage as "more upbeat" or "halfway decent."; They defend the relatively young age of Quayle, who turned 44 in February ("All he needs is a little seasoning"); his limited experience ("Look at what they said about Truman -- he was a haberdasher"), and his passion for golf ("He has to have some form of relaxation"). But they are careful not to stretch the superlatives. The description "nice" comes up a lot.; "He's not the fool that the talk show hosts think he is," says Dottie Watson, president of the Republican Women of Huntington County. "He's a very nice person, a capable person. Everybody I know says he can do it."; That is not to say some people don't have some friendly advice for Quayle. "If he would slow down, talk an octave lower and think about what he's saying, I don't think people would take him the way they do," said Jean Anne Drabenstot, the owner of Nick's Kitchen, Quayle's favorite restaurant.; Hayden Schenkel, chairman of the Huntington County Democratic Party and a distant cousin of David Schenkel, says, "Some people would shudder and shiver if he accidentally became president of the United States. Most of the Democrats and even some of the Republicans would say they're tickled to death to have him as vice president, and they're 100 percent behind him. But in all due respect, we sure hope nothing happens to President Bush."; Quayle has declined an invitation to attend the tribute, citing a busy schedule. Nonetheless, most of Huntington's 17,000 residents have rallied around their native son for the exhibition, which tracks his life from infancy through law school, from the Senate to the vice presidency.; The free exhibition has turned a gray room in the town's public library into a virtual Dan Quayle museum. The display patches together pieces of a life that until the last decade was strikingly ordinary.; There is Dan Quayle and his brother Chris riding horseback and wearing cowboy hats, or sitting in front of the fireplace in their pajamas at Christmas. There is Dan Quayle with his Vacation Bible School class, Dan Quayle with the high school golf team, Dan Quayle at 5 or 6 years of age with Sharon McEachern when they were named king and queen of the swim festival at the Fort Wayne Country Club. It is all very 50s, very Middle American, almost surreal in its innocence.; There are windows into the workings of the Quayle family, too. For example, his father, James, signed the report cards when Dan brought home poor grades, and his mother signed when he brought home good ones.; And there are letters and poems that he wrote, which only go to show that one does not have to be a Yeats to make it in politics. Dan wrote this rather thoughtful verse on Nov. 22, 1960, when he was 13 years old:; My Dad is very very nice; But he is not made of sugar and spice.; Sometimes he acts as if he has been disturbed; But at other times he is as cheerful as a bird.; The exhibit also includes the 1972 newspaper announcement of Dan and Marilyn Quayle's wedding, the wooden "Quayle &amp; Quayle" shingle the couple hung when they opened their law practice here, and assorted campaign souvenirs, including the official air sickness bag from the 1988 Republican National Convention.; Ultimately, the foundation wants to build a repository for the memorabilia. It has already organized a walking tour of historic Quayle sites, like the white, ranch-style house where he spent his early days, and Nick's Kitchen, where he likes to order tenderloins, fries and a milkshake.; "We want everybody to know he's a winner -- I don't care what the newspapers say," said Marge Hiner, one of the exhibit organizers. "What a role model for our children, to know that you can be a normal person, come from a normal family and become vice president of the United States." 
 In the 15 months since he walked free from prison, Nelson Mandela has played the chief role in talks with President F.W. de Klerk and the white government. He has presided over an African National Congress divided and not yet organized for politics. He has spent his moral capital trying, unsuccessfully, to end the murderous conflict between black political factions.; Now Mandela is confronted with his wife's conviction for a brutal criminal offense. He has loyally defended her innocence. He has seemed to hear no voice to the contrary. But events have caught up.; The radicals in the ANC may well use the trial and conviction of Mrs. Mandela to arouse members against Nelson Mandela's policy of peace and negotiation.; There are rumors that at a national conference next month the radicals will try to move such older leaders as Mandela and Walter Sisulu aside to a nominal senior role.; It is a gloomy picture: an elderly man bearing the hopes of peace in South Africa beset by problems, personal trauma on top of political. But I think it would be wrong to conclude that the South African drama is necessarily heading toward a tragic end.; One reason for a degree of optimism is the way South Africans on all sides, most of them, have dealt with Winnie Mandela's trial: calmly and fairly.; During the years of white supremacy the law has been viciously misused. But from all one can tell, this trial was handled professionally by the judge, Justice Michael Stegmann.; The reaction to the verdict and six-year prison sentence was also mild. Surprisingly few supporters gathered outside the court to cheer Mrs. Mandela. The ANC issued a detached statement saying that the last word had not been spoken in the case. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said "the movement is larger than any individual."; A more fundamental reason for hope is that F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela -- and those for whom they speak -- have a common interest in creating a new, non-racial South Africa. They need each other. Without their agreement, there can be no solution, no outcome that leaves a viable country.; The next step is formal negotiations. They can come only when the government takes further steps to meet the reasonable ANC demand for action against violence -- in particular, a ban on the carrying of so-called "cultural" weapons such as spears. How can the government look away when 1,000 Zulus carrying spears and machetes slaughter township residents?; The time factor is crucial now. Negotiations must start soon if the moderate center of the public, black and white, is to retain hope for a peaceful solution. World and time press on Nelson Mandela. 
 The volcano, about 10 miles west of the air base, came to life last week after six centuries of dormancy. No casualties have been reported, but experts are concerned that a major eruption could occur soon.; Gases, ash and molten rock continued to pour out of the mountain today, enshrouding it in thick, gray clouds of ash and steam that rose 12,000 feet.; The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said it detected rhythmic ground movements today that indicated molten material was rising to the surface of the craters.; Institute Director Raymundo Punongbayan said Mount Pinatubo was in the "early eruptive stage" and "after that we will have bigger ones."; He said most of the ash and molten rocks had been flowing westward away from Clark. But he said geological studies showed that in the previous eruption 600 years ago, the main flow cut across what is now the western portion of Clark.; Rains fell across the area Sunday night, and officials warned residents in the lush, green lowlands west of the mountain to move to higher ground to escape mud flows.; Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ron Rand announced the evacuation in a 5 a.m. broadcast over the U.S. military's Far East Network. An hour later, the first vehicles began rolling out of Clark for the U.S.-run Subic Bay naval base, where the 14,500 troops, dependents and civilian employees will be housed until the danger passes. Another 1,500 troops remained at Clark to provide security.; The Clark command center operated with a skeletal crew, but the base's operations were suspended. The base is a major terminal for the worldwide network of flights operated by the Military Airlift Command.; The miles-long convoy jammed the two-lane roads leading to Subic, about 50 miles southwest of Clark. U.S. Marines patrolled the highways, which pass through areas where Communist guerrillas operate, and U.S. helicopters hovered overhead.; By late afternoon, U.S. officials said all the evacuees had reached Subic.; "If it's going to blow, I hope it does it fast so I can go home before the cockroaches take my house," said Staff Sgt. Mike Huffman.; Clark Air Base is in Angeles, a city of more than 300,000 people about 50 miles north of Manila. In Angeles, residents reported no ash fell today but said the air smelled of sulfur.; In southern Japan today, Mount Unzen continued to shake and spew hot ash and rocks, and heavy rain was falling on the tons of ash and rock it disgorged over the past week, raising fears of deadly mudslides.; Areas around the 4,452-foot volcano covered by evacuation warnings were expanded to protect people against possible slides of volcanic debris that could be triggered by the rain, police said.; An explosion of superheated gas, ashes and rocks from the mountain one week ago claimed 38 lives, and a larger flow over the weekend razed dozens more homes. In all, about 9,800 people have been evacuated from communities at the foot of the mountain, said police in Nagasaki, 30 miles away.; Mount Unzen and Mount Pinatubo belong to the "Ring of Fire" that circles the Pacific where shifting plates of the Earth's crust push against each other, triggering periodic volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.; In the Philippines, officials have evacuated more than 12,000 people in three provinces since Mount Pinatubo began erupting last week. About 3,100 of them are primitive Aeta tribes people who lived on Pinatubo's slopes.; Many of them walked or traveled by ox cart to flee the volcano. But reporters found that some evacuees are returning to their homes each morning to tend to livestock and crops and heading back to evacuation centers at sundown.; Punongbayan said he flew to the area and warned people there would be no time to escape once a major eruption begins.; There was no indication how long the Americans evacuated from Clark would stay at Subic, but they were ordered to take along important papers and food, water and clothing for three days.; Subic base spokesman Bob Coble said families at the naval installation had been asked to take in evacuees and that others would double up in bachelor officer and enlisted quarters.; Mount Pinatubo, which last had a major eruption in 1380, began to show signs of activity in April. Last week, it belched small amounts of steam and ash.; There are about 21 active and 200 dormant volcanoes in the Philippines. The last major eruption occurred in 1965, when the Taal volcano, about 50 miles south of Manila, exploded. About 200 people were killed. 
 A huge cloud of ash-laden steam rose up to 11,500 feet above the volcano today, spreading ash over a six-mile radius, the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said.; If it does erupt, the deadly hot ash produced by the volcano could sweep across adjoining Clark Air Base, he said. Also in peril are the 350,000 residents of Angeles City, where the air base is located, about 50 miles north of Manila.; Even if the volcano does not erupt, the threat of eruption is likely to keep the base closed for weeks at least, Lipman said.; Scientists doubt it's more than coincidence that the eruption is occurring at the same time as the Mount Unzen volcano in Japan, he said.; The five USGS scientists are among the few remaining people at Clark Air Base, which was evacuated along with thousands of Filipinos living near the volcano.; The researchers, along with 10 Filipino scientists and their equipment, today moved to a bunker on the east edge of the air base, 12 miles from the volcano, where they should be safe from ash avalanches.; Mount Pinatubo is typical of hundreds of volcanoes that make up the "Ring of Fire" on the Pacific coasts of Asia and the Americas. (These volcanoes -- including Mount Lassen in Shasta County, and Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens in Washington, all in the Cascade Range -- arise where one of the earth's immense crust plates is slowly diving beneath another.); Pinatubo's last eruption, 600 years ago, is thought to have yielded at least as much molten rock -- half a cubic kilometer -- as Mount St. Helens did when it erupted in 1980. Until volcanologists' attention was drawn to it by a cluster of earthquakes beneath the volcano this spring, it had not been studied well.; Other recent volcanoes that erupted on the same scale were El Chichon in Mexico in 1983 and Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia in 1985.; If it does have a massive eruption, Pinatubo's primary means of causing death and destruction would be hellish avalanches of hot ash -- 1,000 degrees or more, flowing and billowing at up to 100 mph, engulfing and searing all in their path.; "In the worst case, a really big eruption, all of Clark Air Force Base could be covered" with glowing ash, Lipman said.; Just being caught in a cloud of ash blowing off the avalanche is fatal. That is what killed 38 people in Japan last week.; Such ash also would wreak havoc with the engines of planes at the air base, Lipman said.; Planes flying through clouds of volcanic ash -- indistinguishable on radar from rain clouds -- run the risk of having their engines stalled by the grit.; So far, the winds have blown ash away from the base. But winds of the summer monsoon weather pattern, expected to begin any day, would send ash directly toward the base.; The volcano's activity -- measured by seismometers detecting slight earthquakes in its molten rock plumbing system -- is increasing in a way that suggests a large eruption is imminent, Lipman said.; The scientists also are monitoring tiltmeters on the volcano's slopes, to watch it swell as magma builds inside. On clear days they fly above the crater to measure sulfur emissions.; Their predictions might be a false alarm -- the volcano may have done its worst already. But it would take several weeks of declining quakes and sulfur emissions before scientists would be reasonably confident that the military could return to the base.; Volcanologists know of no reason the volcano's activity could be linked to the volcano in Japan, which is of comparable size.; "No reputable scientist I know of" is drawing a connection between the two, Lipman said.; More than 500 volcanoes have erupted in historical time, he noted. "Two out of 500 is no big deal." 
 Residents of nearby Angeles panicked when a huge, gray-greenish mushroom cloud burst from the volcano and turned day to night. Thousands of fleeing people packed roads.; "Stones as big as my head were falling down from the mountains," said Rolly Soria, 18.; "There was panic everywhere," said Manuel Romualdo. "Children were crying. We had to grab whatever we could."; Scientists warned of more, possibly larger eruptions from the 4,795-foot volcano, which was dormant for six centuries until it began spewing steam in April.; "This could be only the beginning," said Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology.; Angeles, a city of 300,000, is adjacent to Clark Air Base, but authorities had not ordered a general evacuation there.; Hundreds of Americans fled Clark, home to 15,000 American military personnel and their families. Most of the base's residents had been evacuated Monday. The base did not appear immediately threatened by volcanic flow.; Seismologists said searing gas, ash and molten rock raced at great speed down the mountain's western and northern slopes. They said most of the debris flowed into the Marella, Maraunot and O'Donnell rivers and that there had been no reports that property or homes had been damaged.; About 3,000 Aeta tribesman, descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines, fled the slopes of Mount Pinatubo.; At a refugee center in Olongapo, 35 miles southwest of the volcano, survivors told of the sky growing dark, then of hearing a tremendous explosion followed by a rain of ash.; They said they scampered for safety with their belongings and livestock over roads slippery with ashfall, many wearing cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the ash.; "They were stunned by the eruption," television reporter Bert Basa said. "Their faces turned ashen, and it looked like their hair was standing on end."; Ash was so thick in the air that at noon, motorists were driving with their headlights and windshield wipers on.; A photographer who circled the volcano in an airplane said an aerial gunnery range at Clark was covered with ash, as were mountains in the Zambales range, normally lush, green tropical peaks.; Today's first eruption began at 8:40 a.m. with a tremendous blast that sent forth a mushroom cloud. It was followed by a second explosion a few minutes later and a third, smaller blast at 11:49 a.m.; The huge plume could be seen in Manila, 60 miles to the south, and reporters at the scene said it blocked out the sun. The cloud drifted westward into the South China Sea.; Two more thundering explosions rocked Mount Pinatubo late today.; The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said the explosions occurred at 10:52 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. The second explosion sent a plume of ash and steam 80,000 feet into the sky.; Shortly after midnight, a sixth explosion was reported.; Seismologists said the volcano had plenty of built-up magma and even more severe eruptions could come later.; "The crisis has not ended yet," said Punongbayan, of the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology. "We have signs that the volcano is preparing for another one."; Punongbayan warned people within a 15-mile radius of Pinatubo to flee.; "The smoke is very thick like a dark mushroom in the sky," television reporter Gus Abelgas said in a broadcast from Botolan, near the volcano's western slopes. He said strong tremors preceded the nighttime eruptions and continued afterward.; President Corazon Aquino visited refugee centers near Angeles briefly before returning to Manila for independence day celebrations.; The Americans who fled Clark with a few belongings Monday moved in with sailors and their families at Subic Bay naval base, 50 miles to the southwest.; Clark is one of the biggest U.S. bases overseas. Punongbayan said Tuesday that the site was in the path of the volcanic flow from Mount Pinatubo during its last major eruption, in 1380.; About 19,000 Filipinos earlier had been evacuated from three provinces near the volcano's slopes and were housed in 25 makeshift evacuation centers outside the projected danger zone.; Officials said more were evacuated after today's eruption.; About 10 people in Moraza, a village on the western slope of the mountain, were refusing to leave, relief officials said. They told rescuers that they would not leave their livestock and if the animals die, "we will die with them."; On April 2, Pinatubo produced a small hydrothermal explosion caused by underground water meeting hot rocks deep inside. On June 3, the volcano spewed ash in a mild eruption.; That same day, 4,452-foot Mount Unzen in Japan erupted with an explosion of superheated gas, ashes and rocks that killed 38 people.; Experts say there is apparently no connection between Unzen and Pinatubo.; There are about 21 active and 200 dormant volcanoes in the Philippines. The last major eruption was the Taal volcano, about 50 miles south of Manila, in 1965. That explosion killed about 200 people. 
 An eruption this morning caused an earthquake so strong it "sent seismograph needles off the chart," and registered 60 miles south in Manila, said Jessie Daligdig, a government geologist.; Villagers tied wet kerchiefs on their faces and used rakes, shovels and pieces of wood to push the blanket of snow-like ash from roads. At times, winds whipped the grit into the air, forcing cars to use windshield wipers and headlights in blizzard-like conditions through the afternoon.; Two people have been reported killed so far, a Filipino serving in the U.S. Navy who died in a traffic accident on an ash-slick road and a Filipino boy reported to have died after inhaling sulfuric fumes that began to seep from the volcano last weekend.; The initial explosions on Mount Pinatubo at 8:51 a.m. Wednesday sent a 10-mile-high mushroom cloud of swirling ash and rock fragments into the skies over Clark Air Base, forcing the Air Force to evacuate hundreds of American volunteers who had stayed behind to guard it and to tend sensitive communications equipment.; Most of the 16,000 Americans who live and work at Clark were evacuated Monday, when scientists said it was clear that the volcano, dormant for more than six centuries, was returning to life.; U.S. officials have refused to say whether nuclear weapons are stored at Clark, but they denied news reports suggesting a radiation danger if weapons depots on the base were hit by molten rock.; Many of the villages in the vicinity were holding Independence Day celebrations when heavy gray clouds first began raining ash Wednesday morning. The mayor in San Marcelino, 17 miles southwest of the volcano, was giving a speech to several thousand people when dark clouds suddenly blotted the sun and turned day to night.; Calixto Macalma Jr., a police intelligence officer, said people panicked as it began "raining sand." Church bells pealed in alarm, sirens wailed and many ran for shelter.; Philippine civil defense officials said that they had evacuated 19,369 people from villages within a 12-mile radius of the volcano by late Wednesday. Along the roads, some people wore cardboard boxes on their heads for protection; some rode their water buffaloes to safety.; At least 330 villagers, who had ignored earlier warnings to flee Aglao hamlet, finally abandoned their homes Wednesday afternoon.; "There were big stones, like this," said one woman who escaped, holding out her fists. "We are very scared."; Thousands of residents of Angeles City, east of the volcano, initially fled in panic from the booming morning blasts and greenish-gray mushroom cloud that towered over the area. Passenger jeeps sped through the streets, refusing to stop for riders as the drivers drove for cover. Most residents later returned to the sprawling city.; But officials issued no general evacuation order for Angeles, even though the city is next to Clark Air Base. U.S. geologists advising the Philippine government said most of Angeles was not at risk, apparently basing their assessment on earth samples indicating that earlier eruptions had reached the area on which Clark now stands but had spared what is now Angeles.; President Corazon Aquino helicoptered to refugee centers near Angeles briefly before returning to Manila for an Independence Day rally and parade at Luneta Park. She authorized the release of $1.42 million for relief efforts.; Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said scientists could not estimate how much magma was still pent up inside Mount Pinatubo, but said more eruptions at least as violent are expected within the next three days.; "All we can do is wait," he said. "The crisis is not over." 
 Typhoon Yunya, packing 80 mph winds, slammed into the eastern coast of Luzon island, which includes Mount Pinatubo, early in the day. But it quickly weakened to a tropical storm with 60 mph winds by the time it was centered about 70 miles east of the volcano.; Still, heavy rains churned up by the typhoon drenched Manila and the provinces near the volcano, raising fears of mudflows that could bury whole towns up to 25 miles away.; Meanwhile, President Corazon Aquino dismissed a British newspaper report that Americans had warned her of possible radioactive contamination if the volcano damages nuclear storage sites at Clark Air Base, abandoned Monday by nearly 15,000 Americans.; The U.S. military began flying home hundreds of the 28,000 Americans who crowded onto Subic Bay Naval Base as a bizarre tropical blizzard of thick volcanic ash caused power failures across the base Friday during a third day of increasingly violent eruptions of Mount Pinatubo.; Showers of 'mud drops'; "It looks like it's snowing outside," said military spokeswoman Capt. Kim Urie. Headlights and street lamps were turned on at midafternoon as a "dark, black cloud" passed over the giant Navy base and dropped a gritty rain of "mud drops," she said.; At least four people have died, 24 have been hurt and four have been listed as missing since Pinatubo began erupting Sunday, after lying dormant for six centuries, officials said. About 84,000 people, including Americans, have been evacuated.; Police said 12 people had been arrested for looting at Clark.; Five explosions shook the mountain early today, showering ash over a wide area and providing a spectacular pre-dawn display of nature's fireworks against a backdrop of lightning and rain.; Friday, eight thunderous explosions shot a cloud of ash and steam nearly 19 miles high.; Friday's eruptions hurled ash over Clark, 10 miles east of the volcano, and Subic, 25 miles southwest, where the Clark personnel had been temporarily housed. Gray ash also fell in Manila, 60 miles south.; At Subic, base spokesman Robert Coble said generators had to be shut down from time to time to clean out volcanic ash, plunging the base into darkness.; River temperatures rising; Temperatures in local rivers were rising because of the volcanic debris, officials said.; After sunset, the volcano spewed two streams of orange, glowing material from its crater in what scientists thought was the first appearance of lava during the weeklong eruptions.; Raymundo Punongbayan, director of the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology, said Friday's blasts were part of a single eruption, the largest since Mount Pinatubo awoke Sunday from its 600-year slumber.; A British newspaper, the Guardian, reported Thursday that the Americans declared a nuclear alert at Clark late Wednesday and informed governments in Manila and Hong Kong that "a nuclear accident in the region was possible." But Aquino told reporters the story was "baseless and purely fabricated."; The United States refuses to confirm or deny that it stores nuclear weapons in the Philippines.; Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus also said the eruption should have no effect on talks on the future of Clark and Subic, where leases expire Sept. 16. The talks are deadlocked over compensation and the duration of a new agreement.; Punongbayan said Mount Pinatubo could remain active for years if it follows the pattern of similar Philippine volcanoes. That would leave Clark unusable. 
 The Olympic trials, scheduled for January, have made Nichols' job much easier this year. Most top-ranked U.S. women are looking for any summer-time marathon in which to run and the San Francisco version offers excellent conditions.; The hills of San Francisco make this marathon challenging. The weather, however, makes it one of the few enticing races held from June to September. Early morning temperatures range in the low 50s in late June.; "This is the only place in the world where you can have a marathon in the middle of summer," Nichols said.; Defending champ back; Last year's winner, Janis Klecker of Minnetonka, Minn., is entered. The field also boasts Janine Aiello of Albuquerque, N.M.; Michelle Bush-Cuke of Berrien Springs, Mich.; Christine Gibbons of Elmwood, N.J.; Lesley Lahane of Chestnut Hills, Mass.; Julie Shea-Graw of Raleigh, N.C., and Jane Welzel of Fort Collins, Colo.; All seven women have run marathons under the 2-hour, 40-minute barrier. Klecker turned in a 2:39:52 on the 26.2-mile course.; Welzel is the 1990 national champion, Gibbons has won 26 marathons, Lahane is a former cross-country national champion and Aiello twice has finished second in San Francisco.; A test for Shea-Graw; Shea-Graw, 32, finished third in the 1981 New York City Marathon and was consistently ranked among the top five American runners throughout most of the early '80s. She was the top qualifier for the 1980 Olympics team that missed the Moscow Summer Games because of a U.S. boycott.; This will be Shea-Graw's first race outside of North Carolina since 1986, when she took time off to have a child.; "I've run some local races," Shea-Graw said. "This is going to be a test for me. If it goes well, then I'll up the ante and give my training the time that is needed to become competitive again."; Shea-Graw's best time is 2:30:11.; "I had some major injuries and wanted to have a child," Shea-Graw said. "But now it's time to get on with my career." 
 Who could possibly regard her as anything other than a crackpot and a public menace?; Well, let's see: there's party rockers the B52s and cult singer Lene Lovich -- successful, critically acclaimed musicians who credit Ono's music as an influence. There's the Whitney Museum of Art, which exhibited Ono's artwork last year -- one of the 10 museum shows she has had around the world.; There's also the American Film Institute, which Ono says is staging an international tour of her experimental films. And Ono's record label -- "they want to put out all my songs in a kind of CD box or something," Ono says.; Surprised? So's Ono. She's used to rougher treatment. Acceptance is a difficult concept for her.; "I'm used to sort of knocking the door rather than having the door opened and having to cope with entering it," Ono says during a telephone interview.; She's speaking from the New York office of Bag One Arts, the company Ono founded to promote Lennon's art and image.; Marketing an icon; Since his death in 1980, Ono has steadily kept Lennon products coming out: the albums "Milk and Honey" and "Menlove Avenue" and the 4-CD boxed set "The John Lennon Collection"; the book "Skywriting by Word of Mouth," a collection of Lennon's unpublished writings; Lennon's art, which Ono says was his main interest in his final years; and Lennon-inspired merchandise, such as a line of John Lennon eyeglasses.; "I told the fans that I'm going to do 10 years of it. Every year, hopefully, give a new product and share it with the fans," Ono says. "Some years, we had two or three products of John that came out."; The 10-year promise ended with last year's year-long celebration of Lennon's 50th birthday. In 1991, Ono says, she has tried to "relax a little and do my own stuff."; Ono, 57, has been going into a recording studio every day to work on the proposed boxed-set of her music. She continues to produce art and recently had a museum exhibit in Iceland.; Ono began her art career as an abstract impressionist, then went avant-garde. She began doing performance art in the early '60s, long before the form was legitimized by art critics and government grants.; A life in two worlds; Ono declines to put a label on her current works. She says that's for the critics to decide. "I just like to create," she says.; Ono still lives in the Dakota apartment house in New York, the site of Lennon's murder by a crazed fan.; On Dec. 8, 1980, the couple was returning home from the recording studio where they had been remixing "Walking on Thin Ice," one of the songs that would appear on Ono's most successful album, "Season of Glass." As they approached the entrance to the building, someone called out "Mr. Lennon?" Lennon turned, and Mark David Chapman shot him five times with a .38 revolver.; After Lennon's death, there was speculation that Ono would leave the United States forever. She did begin living part-time in Geneva.; "My theory was that I would live more and more in Geneva," Ono says. "But it seems like circumstances are making me come back more and more to New York. This is my hometown, that's how I feel about it. It's a place where I can work very well."; Ono was born in Tokyo -- her name means "Ocean Child" -- and came with her family to the United States in 1936. Ono lived with her family in San Francisco and New York until the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor forced them to return home.; In 1951, the Onos returned to New York. Yoko married a Japanese composer when she was 23. The marriage lasted seven years. Ono married a second time in 1963, to avant-garde artist Tony Cox. The couple had one child, a daughter named Kyoko. In 1966, Ono and Lennon met. He too was married and had a child, Julian. Ono and Lennon were married in 1970.; There has been much speculation on Ono and Lennon's relationship. Some say she controlled him. "John was an extremely strong person," Ono says. "There was no way to dominate him, even if I wanted to."; Others say Lennon used his relationship with Ono as an escape from things in his life that he felt were controlling him -- such as the Beatles.; In May 1968, when the Beatles came together at the studio to work on "The Beatles," the two-record set commonly called "The White Album," Ono was at Lennon's side. The two were inseparable. According to at least one Beatles biographer, Ono even accompanied Lennon on trips to the bathroom.; The relationship between the Beatles -- especially Lennon and Paul McCartney -- was already strained. Having Ono in the studio, offering suggestions and backing Lennon up in arguments, didn't help.; Still, the group already seemed headed toward a break-up, which finally came when McCartney sued the other Beatles to resolve an argument over the group's management. So, no, Ono didn't break up the Beatles. But it's also true that three of them didn't like her much.; Life after John; "I think the very fact that John and I got together hurt them a lot," she says. "It's 50/50. We hurt them and they hurt us. I can't really say it's a one-sided situation."; Ono says she feels no bitterness toward the surviving Beatles.; "Songwriters in this world are pretty harmless people," she says. "They're not doing anything like creating a nuclear bomb or trying to decide whether people should be killed. They're pretty peaceful people and their songs will hopefully inspire people. I have a lot of respect for them."; But how do the Beatles feel toward Ono these days?; "It varies," she says. "Sometimes they are friendly, sometimes they are not . . . like all relationships with friends. I think that's natural."; Many of the books that have been written about Lennon and the Beatles, especially Albert Goldman's loathing portrait of Lennon, have been painful to Ono. But she says she isn't sure about writing her own version.; "I was hurt very much, and my son, too, by some of the things that were written," she says. "They were lies and that's what hurt us.; "Then again, when I think of writing my true story . . . I could say 'this is the truth' and write about things somebody did or whatever, but then I think about their children. If you look at it from the big picture, maybe there was not such an incredible crime done to me." 
 Cut to a row of dour Communists in ill-fitting gray suits announcing Gorbachev's illness and a palace coup. The camera zooms in on the impassive faces of the two men last seen in Gorbachev's office.; What is going on here?; OK, it's a hackneyed device that would only work in the movies. But then, this week's events in the Soviet Union have all the makings of a spy thriller.; Kremlinologists who dabble in conspiracy theories are working overtime, though they insist that their darkest imaginings be clearly labeled "pure speculation."; "Once you have a palace coup, the possibilities are endless," said Robert Conquest, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution. "Russian politics are full of very strange things."; For all we know, Conquest joked, Gorbachev could be injected with drugs to change his personality or KGB scientists could produce a body-double to impersonate him.; "His friends would know, but would you or I?" Conquest said. "That would be going a bit far."; A more intriguing scenario has Gorbachev conspiring with the coup plotters to engineer a transformation of the Soviet political landscape. The thinking goes like this:; With his popularity at rock bottom, Gorbachev, a lifelong creature of the KGB, hatches a false coup in order to step out of the way while hard-liners and liberals battle each other. The coup falls apart and Gorbachev triumphantly returns with a level of legitimacy he never enjoyed before.; The theory could explain the apparent bungling of the coup plotters, said author Joseph Finder, whose 1991 novel, "The Moscow Club," foreshadowed many of the elements of the current crisis.; Finder, who said he did not subscribe to the scenario, nonetheless pointed out that tanks did not begin to roll until hours after Gorbachev's supposed arrest. Russian President Boris Yeltsin was not arrested, and Leningrad was left alone.; Speculation was not unique to Kremlin watchers in the United States.; Theorizing was rampant in the streets of Moscow on Tuesday, said San Francisco businesswoman Kimberly Getto, who sent a long fax detailing speculation, fueled by the fact that many of the tanks encircling the Russian parliament building had no ammunition. Gorbachev did not want bloodshed, according to the theory.; The Democratic Reform Movement, headed by former Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, Gorbachev's longtime ally, floated the same possibility in a statement Monday.; "It's highly implausible, but not to be excluded, that Gorbachev himself agreed to a withdrawal, thinking he'd show them they still needed him," said Norman Naimark, director of Stanford's Center for Russian and East European Studies. "The degree of connivance is difficult to gauge." 
 In the United States, President Bush said he spoke to Gorbachev and the Soviet leader was "calling the shots" again. Bush said the hard-line coup leaders had "underestimated the power of the people, underestimated what a taste of freedom and democracy brings."; The coup, one of the most tumultuous developments in recent Soviet history, unraveled in a series of swift and dramatic developments today:; (check) Tanks and armored personnel carriers moved away from the Russian parliament, scene of the worst violence of the coup. A 2 1/2-mile-long column of tanks and trucks headed out of Moscow.; (check) The leaders of the national legislature demanded Gorbachev's reinstatement. The full legislature nullified the coup leaders' emergency decrees.; (check) Press restrictions were lifted. "I'm sorry, comrades, but I'm very excited!" said a Soviet TV announcer, grinning broadly after he was allowed for the first time to criticize the coup leaders' actions.; (check) The Communist Party, apparently seeking to salvage its own image, denounced the takeover.; (check) In the independence-minded Baltic republics, which had borne the brunt of the post-coup crackdown, some Soviet troops began returning to their permanent bases. Latvia joined neighbor Estonia today in declaring immediate independence from the Soviet Union.; The coup's failure could deal a fatal blow to organized, high-level efforts to thwart reform drives in the Soviet Union by Gorbachev and Yeltsin and significantly alter the balance of power that has characterized Soviet power for the six-year Gorbachev era.; The country's future course depends, however, on who remains in power. Although Yeltsin supported Gorbachev during the coup, the two men maintain different approaches to Soviet reforms.; Gorbachev's foreign minister, Alexander Bessmertnykh, who had dropped out of sight during the coup, reappeared today and called the takeover a page in Soviet history that "has got to be turned."; At a news conference, Bessmertnykh promised that reforms would continue and that Moscow would honor its international commitments.; The national legislature invalidated all decrees made by the coup leaders, national lawmaker Yuri Karyakin told the Russian legislature. He gave no details about the vote. Karyakin said the legislature's executive council demanded Gorbachev's return to power.; Word of Gorbachev's imminent return to the capital came from Lev Y. Sukhanov, a long-time Yeltsin deputy. He said Gorbachev would fly from his vacation retreat in the Crimea to the Soviet capital with Vladimir Ivashko, the deputy general-secretary of the Communist Party and other aides.; With the coup's demise, the Communist Party moved to salvage its own credibility. It called the takeover unconstitutional and demanded a meeting with Gorbachev, the party chief, the official news agency Tass said. The party renounced any connection with the coup leaders.; Thousands of people had kept up their vigil at the Russian parliament building after overnight clashes with Soviet troops that left at least four dead. They roared with approval when the announcement of the coup committee's departure came over a loudspeaker.; The plane reportedly carrying the coup leaders was said to be headed to the city of Bishkek, formerly called Frunze, the capital of Kirgizia, 2,100 miles southeast of Moscow, according to Radio Russia, which speaks for Yeltsin. It was not immediately known why the coup leaders would travel to Kirgizia.; The radio said officials of the Russian republic would try to intercept the plane and have its passengers arrested.; But sources at the airport told the Associated Press that only KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov was on a plane, and it was headed to the Crimea, where Gorbachev reportedly had been placed under house arrest. He reportedly was accompanied by Communist Party No. 2 leader Vladimir Ivashko.; The republic-run Russian Information Agency said Vice President Gennady Yanayev, the nominal head of the coup committee, was still in his Kremlin office. The report could not be independently confirmed, and the discrepancies could not be clarified.; Bush, in Maine, told a news conference that Yeltsin told him in a telephone call that he believed that five of the coup leaders left Moscow and that one of them, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, was in the hospital.; Despite the force brought to bear by the coup leaders, they were unable to dislodge Yeltsin from the Russian parliament, where he rallied the opposition, to enforce the curfew, or prevent large demonstrations nationwide.; The state of emergency was declared after hard-line elements in the military and Communist Party ousted Gorbachev, declaring he was ill. Few believed it.; The junta had seemed unable to cope with tens of thousands of people who erected barricades around Yeltsin's stronghold in the parliament.; There were also huge anti-coup demonstrations in Moscow, Leningrad, Kishiniev and other cities, as well as strikes by coal miners in Siberia.; Early today, before the coup fell apart, columns of tanks and armored personnel carriers had moved around central Moscow. One patrol of the armored vehicles was trapped by furious demonstrators just after midnight as it tried to break through a barricade.; Two people were confirmed shot or crushed to death as the vehicles tried to fight their way through, and witnesses said a third person was killed. A Russian republic official, Col. Viktor Samailov, told the independent news agency Interfax that four people were shot or crushed to death in the clash. 
 Gorbachev was set to board a plane in the Crimea, where he was vacationing at the time of Monday's coup, for the two-hour flight to Moscow, said a deputy to Russian Defense Minister Konstantin Kobets. Earlier reports that the plane had already taken off were incorrect, officials said.; The Soviet leader, in a statement for radio and television, said he was fully in command of the situation and that the coup leaders would bear "full responsibility" for their actions.; In the United States, President Bush hailed Gorbachev's return to power and said the coup leaders had "underestimated the power of the people, underestimated what a taste of freedom and democracy brings."; The three-day coup, one of the most tumultuous developments in recent Soviet history, unraveled in a series of swift and dramatic developments today:; (check) Tanks and armored personnel carriers moved away from the Russian parliament, scene of the worst violence of the coup. A 2 1/2-milelong column of tanks and trucks headed out of Moscow.; (check) The leaders of the national legislature demanded Gorbachev's reinstatement. The full legislature nullified the coup leaders' emergency decrees.; (check) Press restrictions were lifted. "I'm sorry, comrades, but I'm very excited!" said a Soviet TV announcer, grinning broadly after he was allowed for the first time to criticize the coup leaders' actions.; (check) The Communist Party, apparently seeking to salvage its own image, denounced the takeover.; (check) In the secessionist Baltic republics, which had borne the brunt of the post-coup crackdown, some Soviet troops began returning to their permanent bases. Latvia joined neighbor Estonia today in declaring immediate independence from the Soviet Union.; The coup's failure could deal a fatal blow to organized, high-level efforts to thwart reform drives in the Soviet Union by Gorbachev and Yeltsin and significantly alter the balance of power that has characterized Soviet power for the six-year Gorbachev era.; The country's future course depends, however, on who remains in power. Although Yeltsin supported Gorbachev during the coup, the two men maintain different approaches to Soviet reforms.; Yeltsin addressed the Russian parliament today and said the Soviet Union had just "gone through a most tragic moment in its history, and perhaps the most tragic moment."; Gorbachev's foreign minister, Alexander Bessmertnykh, who had dropped out of sight during the coup, reappeared today and called the takeover a page in Soviet history that "has got to be turned."; The national legislature invalidated all decrees made by the coup leaders, national lawmaker Yuri Karyakin told the Russian legislature. Karyakin said the legislature's executive council demanded Gorbachev's return to power.; With the coup's demise, the Communist Party moved to salvage its own credibility. It called the takeover unconstitutional and demanded a meeting with Gorbachev, the party chief, the official news agency Tass said. The party renounced any connection with the coup leaders.; Thousands of people had kept up their vigil at the Russian parliament building after overnight clashes with Soviet troops that left at least four dead. They cheered when the announcement of the coup committee's departure came over a loudspeaker.; "This shows the strength of our democracy," said Leonid Abramtsov, who was marching with a band of teen-agers waving the red, white and sky-blue flag of the Russian republic.; The plane reportedly carrying the coup leaders was said to be headed to the city of Bishkek, formerly called Frunze, the capital of Kirgizia, 2,100 miles southeast of Moscow, according to Radio Russia, which speaks for Yeltsin. It was not immediately known why the coup leaders would travel to Kirgizia.; But sources at the airport told the Associated Press that only KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov was on a plane, and it was headed to the Crimea. He reportedly was accompanied by Communist Party No. 2 leader Vladimir Ivashko.; The republic-run Russian Information Agency said Vice President Gennady Yanayev, the nominal head of the coup committee, was still in his Kremlin office. The report could not be independently confirmed, and the discrepancies could not be clarified.; Despite the force brought to bear by the coup leaders, they were unable to dislodge Yeltsin from the Russian parliament, where he rallied the opposition, to enforce the curfew, or prevent large demonstrations nationwide.; The state of emergency was declared after hard-line elements in the military and Communist Party ousted Gorbachev, declaring he was ill.; The junta had seemed unable to cope with tens of thousands of people who erected barricades around Yeltsin's stronghold in the parliament.; There were also huge anti-coup demonstrations in Moscow, Leningrad, Kishiniev and other cities, as well as strikes by coal miners in Siberia.; Early today, before the coup fell apart, columns of tanks and armored personnel carriers had moved around central Moscow. One patrol of the armored vehicles was trapped by furious demonstrators just after midnight as it tried to break through a barricade.; Two people were confirmed shot or crushed to death as the vehicles tried to fight their way through, and witnesses said a third person was killed. A Russian republic official, Col. Viktor Samailov, told the independent news agency Interfax that four people were shot or crushed to death in the clash. 
 At the news conference -- Gorbachev's first since the coup against him collapsed on Wednesday -- the 60-year-old leader condemned the takeover as being against "the people, against democracy."; Earlier, he told reporters he would have killed himself rather than submit to any forced arrangement with the coup leaders. "I said I wouldn't make any deals," he said then. "Otherwise, I would have had to commit suicide."; Gorbachev detailed his purge of coup leaders, including Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov. He named a new acting KGB chief, interior minister and defense minister, and said he would do everything to "drive out the reactionary forces from the Communist Party."; Gorbachev pledged cooperation with Russian republic President Boris Yeltsin but said he had no plans to leave the Communist Party.; "I am convinced that socialism is correct. I am an adherent of socialism."; When asked if Yeltsin now had more power than he did, Gorbachev said, "We have been bound together by the situation."; Looking and sounding angry, he described the plotters as "primitive and crude and crafty" and scoffed at their announcement that he had stepped aside because he was ill. "Their hands were shaking the whole time," he said derisively.; Despite his display of anger, the Soviet president said the failure of the coup could ultimately help ensure the continuation of his reforms. "We have to see this as an enormous opportunity," he said.; At his news conference, Gorbachev made a point of publicly praising Yeltsin, whose folk-hero stature was enhanced during the coup as he rallied hundreds of thousands of his supporters to resist.; Before dawn today, Gorbachev flew back to Moscow from the Crimea, where he had been confined to his summer home during his brief ouster.; The Soviet president, who was reported to have slept for a few hours in his dacha outside Moscow after returning from the Crimea, arrived at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport unannounced, under heavy security. He looked somewhat disheveled, clad in a windbreaker and a shirt with open collar.; Appearing on Soviet television after his arrival, Gorbachev looked haggard and unshaven, with deep lines around his eyes and mouth. Later, at his news conference, he at first spoke haltingly, but then appeared to recover his composure and spoke in a forceful voice.; Gorbachev said his captors cut off all communication and that his only source of news during the coup had been from foreign broadcasts, including the BBC and Voice of America, received on a makeshift radio set up by his personal guards.; "This has been a very difficult, an extremely difficult lesson for me. It's my, you might say, my drama," he told reporters.; "Everything was done to weaken me psychologically," Gorbachev said. "It was hard. It is hard to say it now, but that's how it was."; He said that early on in the coup, he tried to find out who was behind it.; "I picked up one of the telephones I have and it wasn't working. I picked up a second, a third, a fourth . . . everything was cut off," he said.; "Every day, morning and night, I demanded . . . that my communication be restored and that an airplane be brought immediately so I could be returned to Moscow," he said. He was being held at his vacation home in the Crimea.; Gorbachev said the coup leaders demanded that he resign.; "I said, 'You will never live that long (to see me resign).' "; He called the crisis "one of the most difficult trials of the entire history" of his six-year rule.; Gorbachev said his 32-man personal guard stayed with him throughout the coup.; The 60-year-old president said the crisis had been difficult for his family, especially his wife, Raisa, who "took it very hard."; "Best of all, my granddaughter Anastasia didn't understand anything that was going on," Gorbachev told reporters. "She wanted to go to the beach; that's all that concerned her. But the guards wouldn't let her go to the beach; they were concerned something would happen."; When it became clear the coup was failing, Gorbachev said he prepared himself and his family for the possibility that they would be killed by the conspirators.; "You know that it appeared as though they might have done something to me. They might have killed me and my whole family and made it look as if . . . they were acting in the name" of the acting president.; "These people might have done almost anything," he said. 
 As soon as the hard-liners made their move Sunday night -- two days before Gorbachev was to sign the treaty -- it was obvious the coup was doomed to failure, they said.; One result of the bungled coup is that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev -- even though reinstated as head of state -- "could be irrelevant" to what happens next, analysts said. Even before Gorbachev returned to Moscow, they predicted his future would be limited to a figurehead role.; "He lost by being peripheral to what happened. No one really came to Gorbachev's assistance as leader of the country," one U.S. official said. Instead, opposition to the coup was based on "the illegality of the principle" of usurping power and widespread fear that if Gorbachev could be "rolled up," then other democratically elected leaders could be, too.; In the aftermath of the coup, analysts also predicted that:; (check) Major constraints on Soviet cooperation with the West, such as the military's disaffection with Gorbachev's support of Bush's strategy during the Persian Gulf war, will now be greatly weakened or removed, although "a benign" Soviet Union cannot be assumed in every case.; (check) The coup's abrupt end opened the way for faster democratic reforms, but it will not now "create Jeffersonian democracy -- or maybe ever."; (check) The Communist Party is "dead" and will no longer be a political force, although most of the country's bureaucrats are current or former party members.; (check) Gorbachev is likely to abandon the party and move more aggressively toward reform. 
 The "coup people," as President Bush dubbed them, could not have miscalculated more profoundly. They thought the issue was Mikhail Gorbachev, and apparently believed that by neutralizing Gorbachev and threatening everyone else, they could quickly take charge of the country.; But the people of the Soviet Union apparently concluded that the real issue was not Gorbachev himself, but the new political culture of freedom and even democracy that his reforms had created. For the first time in their thousand-year history, Russians asserted their independence from autocracy, and the autocrats fell.; There will be much to sort out in the months ahead. But almost certainly the failure of the counterrevolution will accelerate the democratic revolution it tried to choke. That revolution will alter the country, creating a new, decentralized and probably smaller Soviet Union much more quickly than anyone anticipated.; Gorbachev's own standing also will be transformed by these events. It seems unlikely that he can escape the consequences of his own past miscalculations -- especially the miscalculation that led him to embrace the very men who led this putsch against his rule. Gorbachev was the most resourceful and creative political leader of the late 20th century, but this week he was trumped by Boris Yeltsin, who will now rightly be seen as the man who saved him.; Yeltsin had two talents that Gorbachev lacked. One was the ability to stay close to the Russian people as their world was transformed by Gorbachev's revolution -- hence his thumping victory in this spring's first presidential election in Russia and Gorbachev's abysmal standing in the polls. Yeltsin's second talent was his eagerness to challenge the apparatus of the Soviet Communist Party, the world from which both he and Gorbachev emerged.; Gorbachev could never shuck his party apparatchik's skin. Instead of reaching out to new ideas and new people as Yeltsin has, he surrounded himself with traditional Communist Party officials and worried about the impact of new schemes and ideas. Gorbachev thought Vladimir Kryuchkov of the KGB, Boris Pugo of the Ministry of Interior, Dmitri Yazov of the Red Army and Gennady Yanayev of the Communist Party were necessary bedfellows whose presence in his entourage could protect him from conservative forces that hated his reforms. Instead, they turned out to be mortal enemies.; If they had been only personal enemies, Gorbachev might have been undone by them. But when they closed the new, liberal news media and reverted to the Stalinist tradition of the big lie, the members of the State Emergency Committee threatened not just Gorbachev but also the new Soviet Union -- a society that offered its citizens an unprecedented opportunity for dignity, self-reliance and freedom. For years, Soviets and Western Kremlinologists had debated whether the changes that created this new Soviet Union were irreversible. Tuesday, it became clear that they were.; Of course, Gorbachev initiated those changes, and history will credit him for that. He also refused to acquiesce to the state of emergency that those responsible for the coup apparently asked him to endorse last weekend.; It is intriguing in assessing the coup's failure that men trained as thugs by some of the most violent and mean-spirited institutions created by any state could not, in their moment of truth, behave like thugs and kill their compatriots. They left Gorbachev alive and Yeltsin at large; they let the Western media report their coup as it unfolded; and they allowed foreign radio stations to broadcast news of it back into the country. Even their own news media, under strict control, conveyed the fact that there was widespread resistance to their attempted coup.; By Tuesday night, the Emergency Committee was in a confrontation with the political legitimacy of Yeltsin, and this proved an unequal contest. As Gorbachev had previously discovered in his negotiations with Yeltsin over a new union treaty, the legitimacy provided by the 50 million votes that Yeltsin received in the elections for president of the Russian federation was a formidable political force.; At first blush, the botching of the coup was surprising -- couldn't the vaunted KGB and its allies run an efficient putsch? But these were representatives of the political class that turned one of the world's richest nations into a basket case. Perhaps their coup should be seen as a desperate and forlorn effort to deny a truth that proved undeniable -- that the Stalinist system had failed so utterly there was simply no way to redeem it. 
 Gorbachev threw out his foreign minister, Alexander Bessmertnykh, and his acting defense minister, and named a new head of the KGB. And Yeltsin, with Gorbachev's blessing, fired the heads of state-owned media.; The Moscow City Council, meanwhile, ordered all Communist Party buildings in the capital sealed and all telephone service to party and KGB buildings cut. About 2,000 protesters blockaded the Communist Party headquarters in Moscow, declaring they were trying to prevent the removal of documents that might contain evidence linking party members to the coup. Some of the demonstrators chanted, "Down with the Communist Party!"; Yeltsin, who had led the nationwide resistance to the coup, announced a ban on Communist Party activities in the Russian republic, the army, police units of the Interior Ministry and the KGB, which for decades helped enforce Communist rule. Some of the many new decrees issued by Yeltsin went beyond the official bounds of his power as Russian Federation president.; In his speech before the Russian parliament, Gorbachev was compelled to affirm as legitimate the decrees issued by Yeltsin during the three-day coup. It wasn't clear whether the Soviet president had intended to back Yeltsin's latest decrees, and he balked at proposals by Russian deputies to outlaw the Communist Party, saying it would divide the nation.; Gorbachev told the deputies that the government would prosecute those responsible for the takeover. "They wanted to turn us into meat. They wanted to annihilate us, and for that they must bear the severe responsibility," the Soviet president said.; He accused the Communist Party Central Committee of panicking during the coup. "There are people who lost their heads, all sense of responsibility. You could even call them traitors! Traitors!"; At one point during the session, Gorbachev dramatically held up what he said were the minutes of a secret Cabinet meeting during the coup that revealed who backed the emergency decrees. He said many of them "hemmed and hawed," but most voted in support of the takeover.; Today's meeting displayed unprecedented openness in which deputies repeatedly interrupted Gorbachev and argued with him.; Gorbachev drew applause from deputies when he announced that the party's headquarters in Moscow was sealed.; The meeting of Gorbachev and Yeltsin was the first since the coup collapsed to discuss the takeover and to deal with officials who backed the putsch.; In his speech, Gorbachev praised "the outstanding role" of Yeltsin, his sometimes adversary, in halting the hard-line Communist coup. Yeltsin has been a strong foe of Communist Party influence in the country; Gorbachev, however, warned in his speech against "any kind of anti-Communist hysteria."; Yeltsin often commented during Gorbachev's speech, and Gorbachev deferred to him several times on details of what happened during Gorbachev's detention.; Standing ovation; The Soviet president's opening comments drew a standing ovation from the lawmakers in the parliament. Yeltsin led the opposition to the coup from the parliament building, where supporters rallied to build barricades and form a human shield against expected attacks. The coup plotters never dared mount a frontal assault on Yeltsin's headquarters during the standoff.; As the face of the Soviet government continued to change in the aftermath of the failed coup, hundreds of angry residents marched toward Communist Party headquarters in Moscow intent on proving the party was behind the coup.; In other developments:; (check) Only one of the eight top leaders of the coup remained at large early today -- Oleg Baklanov, deputy of the state Defense Committee.; (check) In Kirghizia, Kirghiz President Askar Akaev said the republic would take control of the headquarters of the Kirghiz wing of the Communist Party, as well as the local Lenin Museum. Akaev said the party would be compensated.; Publication suspended; In Moscow, Yeltsin today nationalized the hundreds of printing plants in the Russian republic.; He suspended the publication of six Communist Party newspapers and ordered new chiefs for the official Novosti and Tass news services, charging they had supported the takeover.; The actions by Yeltsin, who quit the party last summer, came amid a growing wave of anger at the Communist Party, six of whose top party officials were arrested for instigating the coup.; In a major blow to the crumbling party, the acting head of the KGB today affirmed Yeltsin's ban on Communist Party activity in the security service, Tass said. A KGB directive also banned any other political parties in the KGB, for decades used by Communist regimes to intimidate dissidents and anti-Communist activists.; Bold protests; The firing of Bessmertnykh followed criticism of his silence during the coup. Bessmertnykh, 57, was the latest official to step down or be removed after the failed takeover. He was not seen publicly after the coup began, and he didn't re-emerge until the coup leadership began to collapse. Bessmertnykh said he had been ill and unable to act.; The arrest of the former KGB chief and other Communist Party hard-liners inspired tens of thousands of demonstrators to undreamed-of daring Thursday.; They expressed their anger and disgust with the organizations responsible for killing millions of Soviet citizens and now caught conspiring to return to their old dictatorship.; At KGB headquarters on Dzerzhinsky Street, thousands shook fists and shouted, "Executioners!" They smeared "Down with the KGB!" and a swastika on the front of the building in white paint. 
 Gorbachev told an audience at the Russian parliament that the government would prosecute those responsible for the takeover. "They wanted to turn us into meat. They wanted to annihilate us, and for that they must bear the severe responsibility," the Soviet president said.; He accused the Communist Party Central Committee of panicking during the coup. "There are people who lost their heads, all sense of responsibility. You could even call them traitors! Traitors!"; Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the Russian Federation leader who saved Gorbachev, met today for the first time since the coup collapsed to discuss the takeover and deal with officials who backed the putsch. Gorbachev named a series of well-known reformers to the posts of those who were fired.; In his speech, Gorbachev praised "the outstanding role" of Yeltsin, his sometimes adversary, in halting the hard-line Communist coup. Yeltsin has been a strong foe of Communist Party influence in the country; Gorbachev, however, warned in his speech against "any kind of anti-Communist hysteria."; Yeltsin commented frequently during Gorbachev's speech, and Gorbachev deferred to him several times on details of what happened while Gorbachev was in detention.; His opening comments drew a standing ovation from the lawmakers in the parliament, where Yeltsin had led the opposition to the coup.; Gorbachev also told the Russian Federation parliamentarians that the leaders of the hard-line coup had sought to arrest Yeltsin. "The president of Russia, Yeltsin . . . was to be arrested, that is how I understood it," Gorbachev said, adding the coup plotters intended to isolate Yeltsin.; As the face of the Soviet government continued to change in the aftermath of the 63-hour coup, hundreds of angry citizens marched toward Communist Party headquarters in Moscow intent on proving the party was behind the coup.; Yeltsin, who led the nationwide coup resistance, today nationalized the hundreds of printing plants in the Russian republic.; He suspended the publication of six Communist Party newspapers and ordered new chiefs for the official Novosti and Tass news services, charging that they had supported the takeover. It was unclear whether he had the authority to order the firings.; The actions by Yeltsin, who quit the party last summer, came amid a growing wave of anger at the Communist Party, six of whose top party officials were arrested for instigating the coup.; In a major blow to the crumbling party, the acting head of the KGB today banned Communist Party activity in the security service, Tass said. A KGB directive also banned any other political parties in the KGB, for decades used by Communist regimes to intimidate dissidents and anti-Communist activists.; As Gorbachev and Yeltsin met, a crowd of about 1,000 people headed toward the Communist Party headquarters in Moscow, saying they wanted to capture and preserve records that might prove the party supported the coup.; Calls for retribution have sounded since the 3-day-old coup collapsed Wednesday, with Gorbachev beginning a purge of coup plotters and thousands of cheering demonstrators toppling a statue outside the Moscow headquarters of the KGB, whose former leader backed the ouster attempt.; Bessmertnykh is out; The firing of Foreign Minister Bessmertnykh followed criticism of his silence during the coup. Bessmertnykh, 57, was the latest official to step down or be removed after the failed takeover.; In in his speech to the Russian Federation parliament, Gorbachev said of Bessmertnykh "this morning I got information that at least he was trying to maneuver or worse" during the coup attempt.; He was not seen publicly after the coup began, and he didn't re-emerge until the coup leadership began to collapse. Bessmertnykh said he had been ill and unable to act.; Also dismissed was Soviet parliamentary speaker Anatoly Lukyanov, whom Yeltsin had named as the chief ideologue of the plotters.; Yeltsin, who stature rose with his resistance in the coup, said earlier that he would insist that proven reformers be installed in top jobs.; Gorbachev told the legislators that he did not want now to name all those appointed to replace the hard-liners, but Yeltsin said that Gorbachev had agreed to appointing Maj. Gen. Constantine Kovets head of the army. Kovets was in charge of defense for the Russian republic.; Six newspapers suspended; The six newspapers suspended by Yeltsin, all based in the Russian republic, are Pravda, Sovietskaya Rossiya, Glasnost, Rabochaya Tribuna, Moskovskaya Pravda and Leninskoe Znamya. It was unclear whether he had the authority to fire the chiefs at Tass and Novosti. He also ordered Novosti nationalized.; In other developments:; (check) Gorbachev said he would meet today with leaders of the nine republics who support the new Union Treaty. The treaty, whose signing was put off by the coup, had angered hard-liners who objected to its provisions ceding more Kremlin power to the republics. Gorbachev also was to make a late-afternoon visit to the Russian parliament, Tass reported.; (check) Kirghiz President Askar Akaev said the republic of Kirghizia would take control of the headquarters of the Kirghiz wing of the Communist Party and the local Lenin Museum. Akaev said the party would be compensated.; (check) Only one of the eight top leaders of the coup remained at large early today -- Oleg Baklanov, deputy of the state Defense Committee.; Coup leader kills himself; One of the coup leaders, Interior Minister Boris Pugo, committed suicide Thursday by shooting himself in the head as he was about to be arrested, officials said. He was replaced by Lt. Gen. Vasily P. Trushin.; Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov was arrested and replaced by Gen. Mikhail Moiseyev, the chief of the Soviet general staff. Leonid V. Shebarshin was named to replace KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov.; Gorbachev's chief of staff, Valery I. Boldin, was replaced by Grigory Revenko. 
 Yeltsin, the triumphant leader of the resistance against this week's military coup, has drastically tipped the balance of power here, showing himself to be at least the political equal, if not the master, of Gorbachev. In a symbol of the new order, the Russian tricolor, the banner of the anti-coup resistance, flew over the gates of the Kremlin alongside the red Soviet flag for the first time since the rise of the Bolshevik state.; In a joint appearance with Gorbachev in the Russian parliament, broadcast live on Soviet television, Yeltsin made it clear that the Soviet president can maintain a semblance of authority only if he agrees to share power and intensify the march toward a democratic political system and a market economy.; "And now for a bit of relaxation," Yeltsin said, interrupting Gorbachev's speech. "Let me sign a decree suspending the activity of the Russian Communist Party."; Gorbachev, who has insisted the party is still capable of reform, stammered a bit and then said, "Boris Nikolayevich, Boris Nikolayevich . . ." With an expression that was half-smile, half-sneer, Yeltsin broke in. "It's been signed," he said definitively, and the deputies broke out in cheering and applause. Gorbachev struggled to explain his own position, but he seemed at a loss.; Yeltsin, who clearly relished his emotional and political control of the parliament session, also played a critical role in selecting the new heads of the KGB, the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry police, which until now have been bastions of opposition to reform. Flouting protocol, Yeltsin was the first to announce the appointments while speaking at a mass rally Friday morning outside KGB headquarters.; New appointees; Former Interior Minister Vadim Bakatin will head the KGB, Gen. Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the air force chief, becomes defense minister and former Russian Interior Minister Victor Barannikov will be the union's interior minister. All three men took a clear stand against the coup and are expected to move quickly to reform the key institutions they now head.; Gorbachev also fired Alexander Bessmertnykh as foreign minister. Although Bessmertnykh said he had refused to go along with the coup leaders, Gorbachev said he had information that his top diplomat had been "maneuvering, or at least did not take a firm stand."; Bessmertnykh reacted with "bitterness," according to the Tass news agency, and claimed that he had refused to join the conservative uprising, even though coup leader and former KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov had told him, "We need a liberal among us."; In both Moscow and Leningrad, city officials ordered police to seal off Communist Party headquarters. Moscow Mayor Gavril Popov said investigators had to make a thorough search of party buildings and documents to determine the scope of the coup and its participants. Across the country, Communist Party leaders who opposed the coup quit their party posts, and some who supported it, such as Latvian party leader Alfred Rubiks, were arrested.; The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexei II, said the coup meant the end of communist ideology in the country. "God has saved Russia," he declared.; As Gorbachev struggled during the 90-minute session of the Russian parliament, he called for "maturity and balance" in judging the conspirators and said, "Let's not have a witch hunt."; Greeted by protesters; From the moment that protesters outside the Russian parliament building greeted the arrival of Gorbachev's limousine with shouts of "Resign! Resign!" it was clear that the Soviet president was not about to get a warm homecoming from those who played a key role in rescuing him.; The Russian deputies -- and Yeltsin especially -- were alternately sarcastic and aggressive. When Gorbachev had trouble at one point explaining one development in the coup, Yeltsin broke in like an exasperated schoolmaster. "Sometimes Mikhail Sergeyevich forgets things," he said.; Yeltsin also seemed eager to impress on Gorbachev just how thoroughly he had been betrayed by his own ministers and presumed allies. He handed Gorbachev the minutes of a closed Council of Ministers meeting held last Monday during which all of the more than 20 ministers present -- with one or two exceptions -- supported the coup and the State Committee for the State of Emergency set up by the putsch leaders.; "I haven't read this yet," said Gorbachev in an attempt to put off the matter.; "Go ahead," Yeltsin insisted. "Read it now."; And Gorbachev did, reeling off the names of all of the ministers who had for so long mouthed the slogans of reform and then stabbed him in the back.; "This whole government has got to resign," Gorbachev said with a degree of despair in his voice. "I must say this has been a great drama for me, a severe trial."; Retribution for Yeltsin; Yeltsin seemed to take extraordinary relish in this Shakespearean drama of betrayal and retribution. It had been Gorbachev who ordered Yeltsin out of a hospital bed in 1987 to face a vengeful meeting of the Moscow Communist Party Committee. At that session, one speaker after another attacked Yeltsin for "political immaturity" and other sins for daring to criticize the party and its Politburo.; And it was Gorbachev in 1990 who came to the Russian parliament to call on deputies to vote against Yeltsin as their chairman. Although this seemingly endless political saga of two reformers who can only struggle to find a common language seemed at an end this spring when they began negotiations on a new Union Treaty, it is clear that their relationship will likely remain the great floating opera of Soviet politics.; Gorbachev said he and Yeltsin had also agreed to assume each other's duties in an emergency.; "If one or another gets in the situation when he cannot even give orders, like what happened now, his rights and responsibilities are automatically taken by the other," Gorbachev said.; It appeared that the move would have to be temporary and could be made permanent only with legislative consent. Soviet law makes the vice president the next-in-line. Gennady Yanayev invoked that law in the coup while declaring Gorbachev physically incapacitated.; The conspirators themselves are now in jail and facing interrogation. Gorbachev said the leaders of the junta "tried to turn us all into chopped meat" and they should be prosecuted without "hesitation or forgiveness."; Soviet Prime Minister Valetin Pavlov has been arrested for helping to lead the coup, Soviet and Russian television reported today.; Pavlov was one of the eight officials in the committee that ousted Gorbachev from power, but he was reportedly taken ill on Sunday night when the coup began.; He has been under police guard in a hospital since Gorbachev regained power Wednesday.; Speculation of guilt also turned on another key figure in the old Gorbachev government. According to Yeltsin, Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov has been ousted for taking part in the coup, but that has not been confirmed. 
 Gorbachev chose to ignore warnings about the right's impending attempt to seize power. Some warnings came from Gorbachev's liberal advisers, such as Alexander Yakovlev, shortly before the coup. But, incredibly, the clearest signals came from the hard-liners themselves.; A leading conservative journalist, Alexander Prokhanov, known as the "nightingale of the General Staff," published a transcript of his conversation with the head of the General Staff Academy, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy and Gorbachev's deputy at the Defense Council, Oleg Baklanov. With remarkable candor, Baklanov called for a military takeover as an appropriate step to avert reforms that would result in a fundamental transformation of the union. Needless to say, Baklanov delivered on that warning and joined the Gang of Eight.; Gorbachev ignored these warnings.; To some -- an admitted minority -- the thought of a Gorbachev conspiracy is comfortably within the range of the traditional Soviet art of deception known as maskirovka. And to laymen, something that odd could make sense in a country where illness can mean anything from the flu to a precipitous fall from power.; The most volatile fuel for the conspiracy theory came directly from Gorbachev himself, in his Thursday news conference in which he described his three days under house arrest in the Crimea.; Among the questions: If Gorbachev's 32 armed guards remained loyal to him throughout, why was there no conflict with the opposition delegation that notified the president of the coup? Why didn't the coup leaders incapacitate Gorbachev's guards, or at least separate them from him?; If Gorbachev's contact with the outside world was limited to intercepting Western radio outlets on an ancient shortwave radio, how was he able to describe the news conference given by the collaborators, down to his view of their trembling hands?; It is highly unlikely that the hard-liners had been set up or ordered by Gorbachev to launch a hopeless coup attempt in order to improve his political standing. Such a scenario would require an unprecedented degree of selfless commitment to Gorbachev on their part.; A more plausible scenario is that Gorbachev was initially a full member of the conspiracy, which, with his participation, could have clung to the fig leaf of constitutionality and would have thwarted the new Union Treaty, to have been signed last Tuesday, which provided for transfer of key levers of power from the federal presidency to the leaders of republics.; It is possible that, unwilling to take a huge risk and openly side with the hard-liners at the start of the coup, Gorbachev had decided to become ill and wait out the initial phase under virtually self-imposed confinement in his summer residence.; Gorbachev did reveal, however, that two important officials had visited him in Crimea at the outset of the coup. One was head of the KGB department responsible for the security of Soviet leaders; the other was V. Boldin, Gorbachev's closest aide, by the president's own admission a man of absolute loyalty to him. One can't help but wonder whether these two visitors came to deliver an ultimatum to Gorbachev and put him under arrest in the event of his non-compliance, or to deliver important documents from fellow junta members at the outset of their joint enterprise.; Conspiracy theorists grope for motives -- Gorbachev wanted to ferret out disloyal elements in his government, to make himself a hero and to delay the scheduled signing of a treaty that would have lessened his powers. But there is virtually unanimous agreement on one point. Gorbachev put into power the very hard-liners who fronted the coup and kept them in power despite their vocal mutterings about him. 
 (check) About 300 black pastors, representing congregations totaling more than 1 million churchgoers in 30 states, held a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court and then lobbied their senators to support confirmation of President Bush's Supreme Court nominee.; The ministers were recently organized into a conservative Coalition for the Restoration of the Black Family and Society, with the first item on its agenda being Thomas' confirmation.; (check) A television ad supporting Thomas, shown in four Southern states where senators face re-election campaigns next year, attracted 10,000 calls between Friday and Sunday, according to Gary Bauer, organizer of the conservative Citizens Committee to Confirm Clarence Thomas, which financed the ad's production.; The ad carries a toll-free telephone number that viewers are asked to call to register their support for Thomas; callers are then sorted by states, and the state lists will be sent to the targeted senators.; (check) On the other side of the Thomas confirmation issue, the National Abortion Rights Action League reported that senators had begun to receive the first of 500,000 anti-Thomas post cards the group has provided to the constituents of targeted lawmakers whose votes against Thomas' confirmation are regarded as critical.; (check) The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a bipartisan group organized in 1963 to assist the government in civil-rights law enforcement, announced that 86 of about 110 members of its board of directors had decided to oppose Thomas' confirmation. The announcement said Thomas' legal philosophy reflected a "hostility to and rejection of the core of civil rights jurisprudence." 
 Her critics see her as more than the supportive spouse who'll accompany her husband, Clarence, through his Senate confirmation hearings, which began Tuesday and are likely to run through next week. They see a woman with strong opinions on issues that are bound to come before the court.; Some women's-rights activists are upset by her lobbying against such issues as comparable-worth legislation. Some religious-rights groups are troubled by her anti-cult activities in light of her former involvement with Lifespring, a motivational group.; Her race draws criticism; Even the color of her skin is being used to determine the content of Clarence Thomas's character. The fact that she is white has drawn criticism from some blacks who see the marriage as evidence that Clarence Thomas has rejected his roots.; In their respective careers, the Thomases have embraced the view that women and minorities are hindered, rather than helped, by affirmative action and government programs. True equality is achieved by holding everyone to the same standard, they believe.; Virginia Thomas has represented the conservative viewpoint in her jobs as a staffer for a Republican congressman, spokeswoman at the U.S. Chamber of Congress and deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Labor.; Clarence Thomas advocates a colorblind society, and his marriage may be an example of that philosophy. But others see a different symbolism.; 'Sign of rejection'; "His marrying a white woman is a sign of his rejection of the black community," said Russell Adams, chairman of Howard University's department of Afro-American studies. "Great justices have had community roots that served as a basis for understanding the Constitution. Clarence's lack of a sense of community makes his nomination troubling."; Some religious leaders are troubled as well. Dean Kelley, the National Council of Churches' counselor on religious liberty, wrote a critique of Clarence Thomas that was used as grounds for his organization's opposition to the Supreme Court nominee. The author did not mention Virginia Thomas in his text but has said he was concerned about her involvement in the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), a Chicago-based organization that says it educates the public about "destructive" cults. That involvement, he said, might affect her husband's handling of religious-liberty cases if he shares her views on the subject.; During the early '80s, Virginia Thomas enrolled in Lifespring, a self-help course that challenges students to take responsibility for their lives. She was troubled by some of the activities and eventually broke with the organization. Since 1985, she has been a public advocate against cult activities.; When she served as a labor-relations attorney at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1985 to 1989, she represented the interests of the business community at congressional hearings on such issues as comparable worth, affirmative action and federal child-care legislation. 
 Her critics see her as more than the supportive spouse who'll accompany her husband, Clarence, through his Senate confirmation hearings, which began Tuesday and are likely to run through next week. They see a woman with strong opinions on issues that are bound to come before the court.; Some women's-rights activists are upset by her lobbying against such issues as comparable-worth legislation. Some religious rights groups are troubled by her anti-cult activities in light of her former involvement with Lifespring, a motivational group.; Skin color an issue; Even the color of her skin is being used to determine the content of Clarence Thomas's character. The fact that she is white has drawn criticism from some blacks who see the marriage as evidence that Clarence Thomas has rejected his roots.; In their respective careers, the Thomases have embraced the view that women and minorities are hindered, rather than helped, by affirmative action and government programs. True equality is achieved by holding everyone to the same standard, they believe.; "I don't think it's fair to say she's anti-women's rights," said Ricky Silberman, vice chairwoman of the EEOC and a friend of the Thomases. She said Virginia Thomas opposed legislation on comparable worth because it would have involved the government in determining wages, which is "not good for the economy, not good for workers, not good for women."; Conservative viewpoint; Virginia Thomas has represented the conservative viewpoint in her jobs as a staffer for a Republican congressman, spokeswoman at the U.S. Chamber of Congress and deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Labor.; Clarence Thomas advocates a colorblind society, and his marriage may be an example of that philosophy. But others see a different symbolism.; "His marrying a white woman is a sign of his rejection of the black community," said Russell Adams, chairman of Howard University's department of Afro-American studies. "Great justices have had community roots that served as a basis for understanding the Constitution. Clarence's lack of a sense of community makes his nomination troubling."; Religious leaders wonder; Some religious leaders are troubled as well. Dean Kelley, the National Council of Churches' counselor on religious liberty, wrote a critique of Clarence Thomas that was used as grounds for his organization's opposition to the Supreme Court nominee. The author did not mention Virginia Thomas in his text, but has said he was concerned about her involvement in the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), a Chicago-based organization that says it educates the public about "destructive" cults. That involvement, he said, might affect her husband's handling of religious-liberty cases if he shares her views on the subject.; During the early '80s, Virginia Thomas enrolled in Lifespring, a self-help course that challenges students to take responsibility for their lives. A small percentage of the program's 300,000 graduates have been deeply disturbed by Lifespring's methods, which involve intense emotional self-examination.; A clean break; Virginia Thomas was troubled by some of Lifespring's activities and eventually broke with the organization. Since 1985, she has been a public advocate against cult activities.; When she served as a labor-relations attorney at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1985 to 1989, she represented the interests of the business community at congressional hearings on such issues as comparable worth, affirmative action and federal child-care legislation. 
 If that's so, said Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., "he's the only person gathered in the room who does not have an opinion."; Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., added, "I'm concerned about his candor, his willingness to be forthcoming." Kohl was today's leadoff questioner as the hearings entered their third day.; Two pivotal members of the 14-member committee -- Howell Heflin, D-Ala., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa. -- also voiced concern about Thomas' answers. But the panel's traditional third swing vote, Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., said Thomas was doing well.; Heflin cited the "appearance of a confirmation conversion" and said it may raise questions of Thomas' "integrity and temperament."; But Heflin added, "I am not at this time of any firm opinion one way or the other" on whether Thomas should be confirmed.; And Simon said Thomas' performance thus far "has neither helped him nor hurt him."; Specter blamed fellow committee members more than Thomas in concluding, "We really haven't moved very far in the process."; Thomas, a black federal appeals judge, was picked by President Bush to replace the retiring Thurgood Marshall, the high court's only black justice.; DeConcini said he thought the conservative Thomas "handled the privacy questions very well" without taking a stand on abortion. "I don't see how you could ask him to do anything more."; Thomas expanded earlier testimony by saying Wednesday that he believed the right of marital privacy was "fundamental" -- a status that accords it the fullest judicial protection from government intrusion.; But he repeatedly refused to state his views on the 1973 abortion decision based on women's right of privacy. To give such an answer, he said, "would undermine my ability to sit in an impartial way on such an important case."; Thomas, who sat alone at the witness table with no notes or reference materials, also claimed a lack of familiarity with the subject matter when asked about some of his former speeches and articles.; That moved committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., to give Thomas a stack of the judge's past speeches so the nominee could "help me understand them" during future questioning.; Thomas, testifying calmly but warily, did offer fuller comment on another hot issue before the high court: prayer in public schools.; After Simon discussed the feelings decades ago of a Jewish elementary schoolboy who left the room each day while his classmates recited a prayer, Thomas said, "Any policy of exclusion should be considered inappropriate."; Outside the hearing room, abortion-rights advocates said Thomas should not be allowed to disavow past comments they say show he would vote to ban most, if not all, abortions.; "His most unimpressive testimony poses two equally disturbing possibilities: he is either willfully misleading the committee about his views to win confirmation, or he is a man whose convictions have shallow roots," said Arthur Kropp of People for the American Way.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he could not understand how Thomas' prior statements touching on the 1973 abortion decision could have been made without considering its content. "I'm not satisfied with the answers," Leahy said.; Although Thomas appeared to back away from comments made in past speeches or articles, he told the committee, "My view is that I have been consistent."; Thomas' opponents believe Republicans Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Hank Brown of Colorado are solid Thomas backers.; But they hope Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, will be joined by the three swing-vote senators and Biden, Leahy, Simon and Kohl in voting against the nominee.; Biden and Kennedy declined comment Wednesday on their leanings.; Metzenbaum said Thomas' refusal to give direct answers "makes it more difficult to vote for him."; THOMAS' VIEWS; Excerpts from Clarence Thomas' testimony:; On abortion: "I have no reason or agenda to prejudge the issue . . . or a predilection to rule one way or another on the issue of abortion."; On affirmative action: "The line that I drew was a line that said that we shouldn't have preferences, or goals, or timetables or quotas."; On natural law: "At no time did I feel, nor do I feel now, that natural law is anything more than the background to our Constitution."; HEAR IT, SEE IT; Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas are scheduled to run through Friday this week and every weekday except Wednesday next week.; RADIO; (box) KQED, 88.5 FM Tape delay beginning at 9 a.m.; repeated at 9:30 p.m.; (box) KPFA, 94.1 FM Live coverage begins at 6:30 a.m.; TELEVISION; (box) C-SPAN Live coverage begins at 7 a.m.; repeated at 5 p.m.; (box) CNN Intermittent coverage. 
 Asked several times by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., about women's right to end their pregnancies, Thomas said, "Whether or not I have a view is irrelevant."; President Bush, asked at a news conference whether Thomas' claim not to have an opinion on abortion is credible, answered, "That's a question for the Senate to decide."; "He's handling himself very well," the president said. "I think he's doing a beautiful job up there. I feel more confident than ever that he will be confirmed."; Thomas' answers have frustrated the committee's Democrats, who say he is an evasive witness. They also have voiced skepticism about his backing away from stands he took in past writings and speeches.; Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., began to show signs of exasperation today during spirited questioning about the nominee's views on "natural law," a theory that certain rights exist independent of written law.; At one point, Biden accused Thomas of using "tortuous logic." Later, he referred to one of Thomas' replies as "the most unartful dodge I've heard." After still another Thomas answer, Biden said, "That's not the question I asked you, judge."; Republicans tried to deflect criticism over Thomas' refusal to answer questions from the Democrats.; "It is, in my view, inappropriate to keep this up," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. He said Thomas had been asked more than 70 questions about his abortion views even though Justice David H. Souter was asked only 36 such questions during his confirmation hearings last year.; "What are we going to have? Sixty-four-thousand questions on abortion before we're done with this approach?" Hatch asked. "Enough is enough."; Thomas said Senate confirmation of his nomination would give him "an opportunity to serve and give back" and to "bring something different to the court."; "I can walk in the shoes of the people who are affected by what the court does," Thomas said.; Several senators were openly skeptical Wednesday over Thomas' insistence that he has no opinion on the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.; If that's so, said Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., "he's the only person gathered in the room who does not have an opinion."; Kohl added, "I'm concerned about his candor, his willingness to be forthcoming."; Today, Kohl asked the nominee, "Is it fair of you to say to us, for the most part, just view me on what I'm saying here this week?"; Kohl asked the black federal judge whether he was offended by published comments calling his appointment by President Bush a "quota."; "That would trouble anyone," Thomas said, adding, "I don't think it's accurate." He said Bush assured him he was picked because he was the best qualified of those potential nominees considered.; Thomas is expected to continue testifying through Friday. The committee next week will hear from other witnesses.; Two pivotal members of the 14-member committee -- Howell Heflin, D-Ala., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa. -- also voiced concern about Thomas' answers. But the panel's traditional third swing vote, Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., said Thomas was doing well.; Thomas' opponents believe Republicans Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Hatch, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Hank Brown of Colorado are solid Thomas backers.; But they hope Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, will be joined by the three swing-vote senators and Biden, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Simon and Kohl in voting against the nominee.; THOMAS' VIEWS; Excerpts from Clarence Thomas' testimony:; On abortion: "I have no reason or agenda to prejudge the issue . . . or a predilection to rule one way or another on the issue of abortion."; On affirmative action: "The line that I drew was a line that said that we shouldn't have preferences, or goals, or timetables or quotas."; On natural law: "At no time did I feel, nor do I feel now, that natural law is anything more than the background to our Constitution."; HEAR IT, SEE IT; Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas are scheduled to run through Friday this week and every weekday except Wednesday next week.; RADIO; (box) KQED, 88.5 FM Tape delay beginning at 9 a.m.; repeated at 9:30 p.m.; (box) KPFA, 94.1 FM Live coverage begins at 6:30 a.m.; TELEVISION; (box) C-SPAN Live coverage begins at 7 a.m.; repeated at 5 p.m.; (box) CNN Intermittent coverage. 
 The committee will continue to hear testimony for and against Thomas at least through the end of the week, but the outcome does not seem to be in doubt. Several committee members said they expected the committee to recommend, by a 10-4 or 9-5 vote, that the Senate confirm Thomas. Regardless of the outcome, Thomas said on his way out of the hearing, "I have been treated fairly."; Before Thomas' testimony ended, the unflappable 43-year-old federal judge was criticized, sometimes in harsh terms, by several liberal Democrats. They accused him of being evasive and of disavowing many controversial statements he made while an official of the Reagan and Bush administrations.; Thomas repeatedly explained that he made the speeches as an advocate for administration policy, acknowledging that they often contained overheated rhetoric.; Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, said he found it "difficult to accept the notion that the moment you put on a judge's robe all the views and positions which you held prior to going on the bench just magically disappear."; "I want to look into the window of your soul," Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said to Thomas. "but I find the shade down quite a bit."; Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., delivered a long, stinging lecture to Thomas, declaring: "The vanishing views of Judge Thomas have become a major issue in these hearings."; Kennedy listed 10 instances in which he said Thomas had abandoned or contradicted his previous positions.; Kennedy told Thomas he had "walked away" from his record on the right to privacy, refused to comment on its application to abortion and asked lawmakers "to believe that an intelligent and outspoken person like yourself has never discussed Roe vs. Wade (the landmark 1973 abortion-rights ruling) with another human being."; Moderate Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who often casts a swing vote on the committee, said he was not troubled by Thomas' shift toward more moderate views at the hearings.; "I believe he's going to be a surprising justice. I don't think you can pigeonhole this man," Specter said.; If Thomas is confirmed as expected, he made it clear that, for the first time in decades, there would be not one justice on the Supreme Court who is convinced that capital punishment is unconstitutionally cruel.; Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Thomas would replace, was the last member of the court who opposed the death penalty in all cases. Thomas told the Judiciary Committee that "philosophically, there is nothing that would bother me personally about upholding it (the death penalty) in appropriate cases."; After Thomas left the hearing room, an American Bar Association evaluation committee told the senators that his articles in law journals were deficient in presentation, content, scholarship and analysis.; But those limitations were outweighed by his "brief but highly satisfactory performance on the Court of Appeals," the committee said, noting that "we found only one opinion to criticize and many to praise." 
 Maxwell's death ended the reign of a contentious media baron who battled unions, barked out orders in eight languages and bullied editors as he built a $2 billion media conglomerate.; "He was larger than life . . . the Citizen Kane of his time," said British Conservative Party lawmaker Anthony Beaumont-Dark, referring to Orson Welles' classic movie about a publishing baron, presumed to have been William Randolph Hearst. "If you wrote a film about his life, it would be rejected as unrealistic."; A labor union leader once said Maxwell "could charm the birds out of the trees. And then shoot them."; The Czechoslovak-born Maxwell, who escaped the Holocaust and emigrated to Britain in 1940, personally ran his publishing empire, often making minute-to-minute decisions. Maxwell's sons, Kevin, 32, and Ian, 35, took over running the businesses Tuesday.; "What normal people consider pressure was meat and drink to Robert Maxwell," said Charles Wilson, editorial director of Maxwell's Mirror Group Newspapers.; His death prompted immediate concern in British financial circles about the future of his debt-laden empire and in New York about the future of the Daily News, one of the nation's largest metropolitan papers.; Among Maxwell's assets were the Macmillan publishing house in New York, Britain's No. 2 paper, the Daily Mirror, The Daily Record, and The European and British Printing &amp; Communications Corp., Britain's largest printing company.; On the steps of Mirror Group Newspapers in London, Ian Maxwell told reporters the moment was tragic not only for his family but also for Maxwell's thousands of employees. "This paper has lost its publisher and its chairman and its savior."; British Prime Minister John Major called Maxwell "a great character who will be missed."; "Maxwell was a passionate friend of Israel, and we are sorry about this heavy tragedy," Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said. "God bless his memory."; His body was found 20 miles northwest of Grand Canary Island after an extensive air-and-sea search, officials at the rescue center in Madrid said. The body was taken by helicopter to the Gando air base on Grand Canary Island, where it was identified by Maxwell's wife of more than 40 years, Elizabeth, and their son, Phillip. An autopsy is planned for today, and the cause of death is officially still unknown.; Details of Maxwell's death are sketchy. He was last seen alive on the deck of his yacht at 4:45 a.m. EST, Daily News spokesman John Campi said. At 11 a.m., a business call arrived from New York, and the crew discovered that Maxwell was not aboard. Campi said Capt. Gus Rankin then radioed a distress call. The body was found several hours later.; Wilson said there had been no suggestion of foul play. "We can only assume that Mr. Maxwell slipped and fell overboard," he said.; His mysterious death came as Maxwell was embroiled in an international controversy, something common in a life that had the improbable, extravagant and sometimes mysterious character of British fiction.; Maxwell had just been accused in a book by reporter Seymour Hersh of having close ties to the Israeli secret service.; Maxwell had denied the accusations. 
 But a unique subset has formed: people who like to do both at the same time. And to help these folks along, companies arrange tours for marathon vacations. The result? Bangkok in November, London in April and Stockholm in May.; "Skiers have mountain ranges, tennis players have resorts, why can't a runner take a marathon vacation?" said Thorn Gilligan, president of Marathon Tours in Boston. "A runner should be able to enjoy a closed city for a day. It's a celebration for the sport as much as a competition."; Gilligan took 5,500 people last year on 20 tours to countries from Bermuda to Moscow. In addition to air fare and hotel, runners are guaranteed spots in restricted entry races such as the London Marathon. Qualifying times are not required.; London, the most popular European city to visit, holds the world's largest marathon (April 12 next year). Berlin's race (Sept. 27, 1992) has grown with the demise of the wall.; "Most marathons take you through cities, so you get a chance to see things you'd never see on a sightseeing bus," said Fred Lebow, president of the New York Roadrunner's Club and director of the New York Marathon. Lebow has run in 32 marathons, including London, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Iceland, Seoul and Vienna.; "The most exciting thing is the start of the race," he said. "Each city has something unique."; The cities are different, but most marathons include a carbo-loading pasta party the night before, medical exams, a post-race celebration, commemorative T-shirts and awards to finishers. Entry fees vary; Brussels is $16, Venice $40.; Marathon Tours includes the entry price in the package. Going to Bermuda, for example, costs approximately $900 from San Francisco. The price includes round-trip air fare, four days and three nights at the Grotto Bay Beach hotel (per person, based on double occupancy), full breakfasts and dinners, a welcome cocktail party and post-race parties and discounts.; England has similar organizations: Sports Tours International and Keith Prowse, a company that specializes in British theater, sports and concert tours.; But it isn't necessary to run 26.2 miles to go on a running vacation, especially if it's a family trip. Some marathons, like Portland's, include additional races: a five-mile run, a five-mile walk and a kids run. Tel Aviv has a half-marathon and a fun run. Budapest offers a half-marathon and a mini-marathon along the Danube.; There are also trips that incorporate running into the sightseeing schedule. Running coach Pat Savage and Hal Higdon, a senior writer for Runner's World, are taking a group to Ireland in June. The eight-day trip will leave from Chicago and will include sightseeing, guided runs and a fun run from Malahide Castle to Swords.; "On a running vacation you plan something around running everyday," Higdon said. "We know the unique scenic routes and put together special runs."; Some runs are intriguing because of current events. The Tel Aviv Marathon course went past houses hit by Scud missiles during the Gulf War. The Belgrade Marathon was held despite Yugoslavia's turmoil. The Munich course is the same as the 1972 Olympic route and finishes in the same stadium.; Running 26 miles just to see a city definitely isn't for everyone, but at the very least, it's a way to kill two birds with one stone. In the recent Chicago Marathon, a German man ran with a camera, snapping photos every few miles.; IF YOU'RE INTERESTED; If you're interested in combining a vacation and marathon, here are some firms to contact:; (box) Marathon Tours, 108 Main St., Charlestown, Mass. 02129. (617) 242-7845.; (box) Roadrunner Tours, 2815 Lake Shore Dr., Michigan City, Ind. 46360. (219) 879-0133.; (box) Keith Prowse, based in England. (8OO) 6MY-TOUR.; (box) Sports Tours International, 91 Walkdon Rd., Walkdon, Worslay, Manchester M28 5DQ, United Kingdom. (061) 703-8161. 
 Investigators have said Maxwell siphoned money from his companies in a desperate attempt to deal with his empire's crushing debts. They also have said some questionable transactions may have occurred after Maxwell's death.; In an interview published today by the Daily Mirror, Robert Maxwell's London flagship newspaper, Kevin Maxwell was quoted as saying of the pensioners:; "I am desperately sorry for them. But I have to be honest. The debts are so enormous that when everything is sorted out there will be nothing left."; One week ago, the Serious Fraud Office, a government prosecution agency, began investigating Mirror Group Newspapers PLC's pension fund assets and related matters. The company says about $630 million was taken from its pension fund without authority.; Kevin Maxwell spoke with the Daily Mirror as he flew to New York on Tuesday for talks on the future of the Daily News, which his father bought in March. Kevin Maxwell is now the publisher.; In a report today, The Washington Post quoted unidentified sources as saying Robert Maxwell never created the pension fund for Daily News managers he promised to start with funding from Tribune Co., which sold the paper to Maxwell. Pension money accumulated before the sale wasn't affected, it said.; Revelations of Maxwell's financial manipulations have led to numerous newspaper characterizations of him as a crook.; "I have to say to myself that given the sequence of events and looking at the whole picture, that a lot of it is fair comment," Kevin Maxwell was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.; Asked how he thought his father died, he was quoted as saying: "Suicide? Not the remotest possibility."; Maxwell's body was found in the sea off the Canary Islands on Nov. 5. He had been cruising on his yacht. Preliminary findings by Spanish pathologists indicated he could have fallen into the sea after a heart attack.; Kevin Maxwell has been linked to transactions of a pension fund management firm at the center of the controversy over the missing money, investigators say. He and brother Ian are under court order to disclose by next week what they know about the affairs of Bishopsgate Investment Management Ltd., one of about 40 companies controlled by their father.; In another development, The Financial Times said today that documents show creditors face losses of at least $905 million on loans to Robert Maxwell's private companies. 
 They also want to know why the ferry strayed outside standard navigational channels. The 1,105-ton ship went down Saturday night about six miles off the Egyptian coast after ramming into a coral reef in stormy 10-foot seas.; "We are looking for both survivors and bodies," said Brig. Abdel-Karim el-Gazzar, Egypt's deputy chief of port security. "We haven't lost all hope that there may be some survivors, although the odds are against it."; Prime Minister Atef Sidki, who traveled to Safaga, said many passengers may have been on lifeboats driven far from the wreck scene by strong winds.; Ahmed Gamal Sobhi, Safaga's city council chairman, said only four bodies were recovered by Egyptian vessels and helicopters and the time nightfall and bad weather stopped Sunday's search.; The weather improved today as two helicopters from the U.S. Navy frigate Aubrey Fitch, which joined in the rescue effort on Sunday night, and a Navy P-3 submarine-chaser aircraft made their first daylight search runs, said Lt. Cmdr. Rudolph Brewington, a Pentagon duty officer.; "They've observed lots of wreckage, empty life rafts, an oil slick but no additional bodies and no survivors," he said.; Survivors said that after the ship struck the reef, crew members herded them to one side of the listing boat to keep it from heeling over, then pushed passengers aside to get to the lifeboats.; "They went off in a boat," passenger Abdel-A'ati Hassan, 31, said from his hospital bed in Safaga. "They left us with women and kids, who died."; The Salem Express was near the end of a 36-hour trip from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to Safaga, about 290 miles south of Cairo. Many of the passengers were Muslims returning from off-season pilgrimages to Mecca and others were returning to Egypt after stints as guest workers in Saudi Arabia.; Outside the harbor, scores of relatives of passengers squatted on a sidewalk or huddled in taxis, awaiting word about their kin.; Hassan Al-Aghouri, Egypt's chief of port security, said the Egyptian-registered ferry inexplicably left standard navigational channels and investigators were seeking to question surviving crew about the course change.; The investigation also will try to determine whether the ferry was carrying enough lifeboats.; Al-Ahram, a leading Cairo newspaper, said in an unattributed report today that the vessel left the charted navigation channel to take a shortcut. It said naval authorities warned the skipper back on course to avoid the area's abundant coral reefs.; But strong winds sent the boat out of control, the newspaper said.; The boat's first mate, Mahmoud Soleiman Rizake, said a "terrible explosion" from the collision awoke him in his cabin.; "Water flooded the ship in 10 minutes, causing it to sink," he said, adding that he jumped overboard and swam until a rescue boat picked him up.; The temperature of the water was not immediately known, but the air temperature was about 50 degrees and many of the survivors were treated for exposure. At least 118 of the survivors were hospitalized.; El-Gazzar, the deputy port security chief, said all but 10 of the passengers were Egyptians. 
 Investigators were looking into complaints from some survivors that the crew abandoned the ferry without helping passengers and that some crew members pushed aside passengers to get to lifeboats.; Moharram said he helped 17 passengers put on life jackets. He said the ferry sank quickly Saturday night after being tossed into a coral reef by stormy seas. Moharram said the coral cut a hole in the ship's side, and water also entered through the boarding doors.; Only seven bodies have been recovered since the ferry went down, leaving 462 people missing. Today, the deputy security chief for Egypt's ports said searchers have not given up.; "We are looking for both survivors and bodies," said Brig. Gen. Abdel-Karim el-Gazzar. "We haven't lost all hope that there may be some survivors, although the odds are against it. But you never can tell."; Survivors said that after the ferry hit the reef, crew members herded them to one side of the listing boat, then pushed passengers aside to get to lifeboats.; "They went off in a boat," passenger Abdel-A'ati Hassan, 31, said from his hospital bed. "They left us with women and kids, who died."; Hassan said the ship sank within 15 minutes of hitting the reef. During that time, he said, he saw no crew members helping passengers.; "The crew told us to stand on one side. They wore life preservers and left us and even pushed us aside to escape," he said. "They could have had time to help."; Many survivors spent hours in shark-infested waters or in lifeboats before being picked up. Egypt's director of port security, Hassan al-Aghouri, said the rescue was delayed by the storm.; At Safaga Central Hospital, Mustafa Ahmed, 38, said he pulled 13 people into a lifeboat.; "I found a rope and clung to it, and then I found a capsized lifeboat," Ahmed said. "I managed to get 13 people who were around me in the sea onto the boat. We waited until a ship rescued us at around noon."; Prime Minister Atef Sidki, who traveled to Safaga, said many passengers may have been on lifeboats driven far from the wreckage by strong winds.; However, many bodies were expected to be found in the hull of the ferry. Efforts to lift it began today.; U.S. Navy helicopter crews reported "lots of wreckage including life preservers, rafts and floating material" where the ferry went down. They said the 1,105-ton ferry lay on its starboard -- or right-hand -- side, with its port side protruding from the water.; Lt. Gen. Salah Halaby, chief of staff of Egypt's armed forces, said 30 Egyptian navy divers were searching for victims or, less likely, survivors.; The Salem Express sank after a trip from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to Safaga, 290 miles south of Cairo. Many passengers -- all but 10 of the 649 people aboard were Egyptians -- were Muslims returning from pilgrimages to Mecca, and others were coming home after working in Saudi Arabia.; Ahmed Gamal Sobhi, Safaga's city council chairman, said four bodies were recovered by Egyptian vessels and helicopters by nightfall, and bad weather stopped the search Sunday. 
 Germany wants to try him for ordering the shooting of people who attempted to flee to the West during his years in power. But speculation lingers that German politicians have little real interest in trying a man who may possess embarrassing secrets.; "Let's forget about the issue of Erich Honecker for several days. Let's hope this special issue will be resolved," Gorbachev's spokesman, Andrei Grachev, quoted the Soviet president as telling German media.; But Tass quoted Gorbachev as saying he did not exclude the possibility that Honecker would leave Russia for North Korea in the next few days.; Gorbachev had served as Honecker's protector until the Soviet leader's political fortunes declined. Last week Russia abruptly ordered Honecker to leave the country or face expulsion.; North Korean and Russian diplomats confirmed that talks were held Tuesday about a North Korean offer for Honecker to travel to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, for medical treatment.; Li Cher Gvan, a consul at the North Korean Embassy, said a commercial North Korean airliner remained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport ready to fly Honecker to Pyongyang. But he said his country was still awaiting a positive reply from the Russian government on the offer to accept Honecker. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had not yet formulated a response.; Outside the Chilean Embassy, several dozen demonstrators continued their vigil, demanding humane treatment for Honecker. 
 Sports Illustrated is taking 300 advertisers to Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena, Calif., this weekend for an all-out bash. Along with getting seats for Sunday's game, the guests will brunch at the chic Spago restaurant, take a private tour of Universal Studios and attend a wing-ding at the Century Plaza Hotel. The magazine is just one of hundreds of businesses whose officials and customers will be among the 104,000 fans attending the Super Bowl. And the companies show few signs of cutting back on their activities despite the new tax law's tighter restrictions on what can be claimed as a business-entertainment expense. Still, the new rules do change things for a variety of Super Bowl entertaining -- from an executive sitting in a $1,500 seat on the 50-yard line to a businessman holding a Super Bowl party in his living room and hoping to write off the costs. One big change under the new law limits business-entertainment deductions for tickets to sporting events like the Super Bowl: Only 80% of the face value of such tickets can be deducted. If a company purchases a a 50-yard-line seat for $1,500 -- the going rate -- it can deduct only 80% of the ticket's $75 face value, or $60. Even to get the 80% deduction, there still must be a "substantial and bona fide business discussion" before, during or after the game, says Julian Block, a tax specialist at Prentice-Hall Information Services Inc. To take a client to a game as merely a good-will gesture is no longer enough, Mr. Block says. And if a company wants to simply give clients tickets to the game, the business gift carries a total deduction of only $25 for each recipient. The tougher IRS rule, however, hasn't slowed ticket demand; even end-zone seats are fetching $500 each. "Even if it weren't tax deductible, it'd be worth it," says Tom Foley, chairman of Bibb Co., a Macon, Ga., maker of home furnishings and textile products that use the National Football League team logos. Bibb is flying about 20 people -- mostly customers -- to the game. "We get more earnings from the trip than the expense," says Mr. Foley. Some companies say they are making adjustments or at least educating their executives about the new rules. A spokesman for Adolph Coors &amp; Co, the Golden, Colo., brewery, said its tax advisers instructed executives that "this can't be just a fun trip -- we have to discuss business." Air fare and lodging are still 100% deductible, as long as there is a planned business meeting in addition to the game. Meals are now 80% deductible as long as business is discussed. Under the old law, meals were fully deductible and all a company had to do was show a business relationship with the guest. Companies can get a 100% deduction for a pre-Super Bowl banquet, since the new tax law has a "banquet meeting exception." Such meetings must have at least 40 persons, half of whom are away from home, and there must be a speaker. Executives who bring clients over to the house to watch the Super Bowl on television also face new restrictions on deductions for food and liquor, says William J. Lipton, tax partner of the accounting firm Ernst &amp; Whinney. If a host wants to deduct 80% of the bill, he or she must talk business with all of the guests, Mr. Lipton says. One safety measure: Make a business-oriented speech, Mr. Block suggests. He also advises party hosts to keep a guest list and note their business connection. That will be a big job for Barron Hilton, chairman of Hilton Hotels Corp., who along with Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, is holding a pre-Super Bowl brunch Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for 1,800 guests including business leaders, entertainment personalities and customers. Allen Hermansen, a Hilton senior vice president, says the bash is tax deductible because "our sales people will be there and business will be discussed." He admits, however, "We're not going to twist any arms. We're there to say thank-you to those who've given us business." An IRS spokesman says more agents will be assigned to corporate audits of business-entertainment expenses this year. But IRS enforcement of the rules could be as difficult as blocking the New York Giants' Lawrence Taylor. "As a practical matter, as long as people say they talked business at a Super Bowl party, how can the IRS dispute it?" says Vickie King, a Price Waterhouse tax official. "The only people who will get into trouble are those who don't keep receipts." 
 A crowd the size of a small city will squeeze past a starting line here March 1 to run 26 miles, 385 yards. And cheering every step of that distance will be more than a dozen corporate sponsors and licensees. Makers of cars, soda pop, sportswear, copiers, computers -- even a hospital -- have tagged their names to the Los Angeles Marathon. In the promoter's words, this run is "a marketing event on legs," reflecting marathoning's growing importance in upscale product promotions. Runners, it seems, are a well-heeled lot. A study by Mercedes-Benz found that 42% of family heads making $40,000 a year or more jog regularly. Of potential buyers showing up at Mercedes dealers, 47% are joggers. With those numbers in mind, the car maker has become a sponsor of three marathons -- in New York, Boston and Los Angeles -- as well as other running races. Marathons have had corporate backing for some time. But Los Angeles is ahead of the pack in making distance running a commercial spectacle. The city that invented the corporate-sponsored Olympics has created a marathon unlike others -- artfully dressed as an Olympic-type amateur race, but built from the ground up to make money for the closely held company that controls it -- as well as for the city. "I took air and made an event," says William Burke, the founder and president of Los Angeles Marathon Inc. For a man whose running days ended with his high school track team, Mr. Burke is turning a lot of heads in the world of marathoning. Last year, its first time out, the Los Angeles race attracted nearly 11,000 runners -- four times the number forecast and enough to make it the third -- largest race in the U.S. The event also pulled in about $4 million in cash and services from its sponsors, leaving the organizers with $370,000 in red ink. This year, Mr. Burke and his partner, Marie Patrick, expect to gross about $5 million in cash and services and to break even. Next year, they say, a profit is possible. More than 18,000 runners are expected this year. An audience of perhaps a million and a half or more will line the route, drawn in part by advertisements on 75 million Coca-Cola cans and 2,500 billboards around the Los Angeles area. Marketing experts say the festive atmosphere of big crowds in the streets makes marathons attractive to sponsors. For the cost of a 30-second ad on the Super Bowl, a company can sponsor a marathon and "take over a city," says Lesa Ukman, editor of Special Events Reports, a Chicago-based newsletter. The Los Angeles organizers and sponsors have perhaps done more than their counterparts elsewhere to publicize the event. Los Angelenos are seeing plugs for the race on millions of grocery bags, milk cartons and loaves of bread, in addition to soda cans, billboards and other sources. The venerable New York Marathon is taking note. The New York Road Runners Club, organizer of the race, stopped promoting the event some years ago because it had all the runners it wanted. Now, Fred Lebow, the group's president, says he is encouraging sponsors to promote the race as the Los Angeles sponsors do. The promotion in Los Angeles is unabashed. "We tell people that if they're looking for a new way to crack the Los Angeles market, this is it," says Mr. Burke. The pitch has attracted the likes of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles; Vons Cos., a large supermarket chain; the Los Angeles Times; the Sears Savings Bank unit of Sears, Roebuck & Co.; Eastman Kodak Co., and Tandem Computers Inc. One supporter is Ellesse USA, a sportswear and shoe producer. A $50,000 fee enables the company to use the marathon's name in its ads; Ellesse will spend an additional $100,000 dressing race personnel in T-shirts and warm-up suits, showing its clothes at the marathon's public "Expo" of sponsors' wares, and posting a dozen big street banners along the course. The company has rented more than 500 billboards at a cut-rate price of $120,000 from Patrick Media Group, a marathon sponsor. The discount, about 50%, was important. "We couldn't have bought that kind of exposure normally," says Susan Cialone, Ellesse's advertising director. Ellesse, which also sponsors the New York run, finds the West Coast event more freewheeling. "They have let us do whatever we want," says Ms. Cialone. For instance, product banners along the route -- almost impossible to arrange in New York -- are a snap in Los Angeles. The city, in fact, is a partner in the race. After competitive bidding, it awarded an eight-year contract to Los Angeles Marathon Inc. to put on the race. The exclusive franchise calls for the race organizers this year to pay a minimum $60,000 fee or 4% of gross cash receipts to the city. The organizers also will pay the cost of city services for the marathon, estimated at $100,000. The race sponsors and city officials are trading freely on the good will generated by Los Angeles's role as host of the 1984 Olympics. The logo of the marathon is a shield with laurel wreath. Some posters show the Los Angeles Coliseum with its torch and giant Olympic symbol. "The World Returns to Los Angeles," proclaims one Mercedes-Benz ad. Race directors are called "commissioners," a term borrowed from the 1984 Olympic organization, in which Mr. Burke was commissioner of tennis. And like the Olympics, Los Angeles Marathon Inc., portraying the race as a civic celebration, thrives on volunteers. Some 7,500 people will work for free to monitor the course on race day. And two-thirds of the race's office staff work without pay. "I couldn't buy this," Mr. Burke says, gesturing around the crowded race headquarters. Not everyone works for free. Big-name runners, for instance, want to be paid a lot. And here, the organizers have pinched pennies. While some runners will be paid to appear, this year's field, like last year's, lacks some of the superstars who race in Boston, New York and London. Grete Waitz, one of the best woman marathoners, wanted $100,000 to appear in Los Angeles; she was turned down. Mr. Burke says the Australian runner Rob de Castella made it known through his agent that he wouldn't run any marathons in the spring but, for $25,000, he'd be happy to say the Los Angeles event was tempting. Mr. Burke says he slammed down the phone. "We won't spend extraordinary amounts of money on any single runner to the detriment of the other runners," he says. Mr. de Castella's agent denies the story entirely. What Los Angeles lacks in superstars, it plans to make up for in numbers. This year's race may challenge New York and London as the largest marathon ever run. Some 20,500 started the New York race last year. Mr. Lebow, organizer of the New York event, says next year's Los Angeles Marathon will surpass that number. For one sponsor, this may be a mixed blessing. Orthopaedic Hospital, a not-for-profit institution whose sponsorship is part of a publicity campaign, provides emergency care stations along the marathon route. Last year, one of every 20 runners needed aid. Along with sprains, strains and blisters came more serious cases of exhaustion and hypothermia. A spokeswoman says: "We advised 250 people to quit the race." 
 The National Union of Mineworkers said an estimated 200,000 black gold and coal miners in South Africa will begin a strike Sunday night for higher wages and better working conditions, in what it said would be the largest job action ever to affect the mining industry in that nation. The strike initially would cover more than half of South Africa's gold mines and about one-fifth of its coal mines, said Cyril Ramaphosa, the union's general secretary. If workers in mines not included in current negotiations join in sympathy strikes, a total of 300,000 miners could be on strike, he said. Gold and coal account for more than half of South Africa's foreign-currency earnings. The union's announcement produced little immediate reaction on South African financial markets, where analysts said a strike had been expected and probably wouldn't have much impact unless it lasted more than a month. Mine owners reportedly have been building stockpiles for several weeks in anticipation of a strike. Mining companies' shares rose along with the price of gold, but the metal's rise came mainly in reaction to increased tensions in the Persian Gulf. The South African rand was slightly firmer. Mr. Ramaphosa said the union is demanding a 30%, across-the-board wage increase for black miners, who the union says earn an average of 225 rand ($109) a month. The Chamber of Mines, which represents the nation's six biggest mining houses, says black miners earn about twice that much. It implemented wage increases ranging from 15% to 23.4% last month. Anglo American Corp., the huge South African mining house, warned against a strike, saying miners had received a good wage increase in July and wouldn't gain further raises by a job action. But "at this stage it seems the strike seems inevitable," said Mr. Ramaphosa, who added that there hadn't been any negotiations with management since a strike ballot received "overwhelming support" during the week of July 12. He also warned of possible confrontations with police, saying: "We have issued instructions to our members that if they are attacked they should defend themselves." Miners' strikes in recent years have featured clashes with police, leaving dozens of people dead. "The total mines that will be affected are 28 gold mines around the country and 18 collieries," the union official said. "Our union is at the same time in dispute with a number of other companies, where strike action could take place at any time, should the various mine managements refuse to accede to our members' demands." He said such other companies included De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., the world's largest diamond miner. In addition to the general wage increase, Mr. Ramaphosa said the union is demanding pay for black miners doing dangerous work. The black miners also are asking for 30 days' leave each year, and a paid holiday on June 16, the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto riots. They also want an increase in death benefits to five years from two. 
 On the day of the Big Event, Ladbroke, the large British betting agency, posted the final odds. Brian Moore was the favorite at 7-4, followed by Peter Ackroyd (5-2), Iris Murdoch (3-1) and Chinua Achebe (9-2). The two dark horses, Nina Bawden and Penelope Lively, were each tipped at 7-1. You may have noticed a distinctly literary tilt to that lineup, an affinity with the bookshelf, not the bookie. All of those people published new works of fiction here in Britain during the past 12 months. And for the last few weeks, literary punters throughout the British Isles have been placing bets on which of those writers would win the Booker Prize, the best-known, best-liked and, almost incidentally, most prestigious fiction award in the land. In recent weeks the Booker contenders have received almost as much press coverage as the Charles and Di rift. And nearly every article, from book reviews to author interviews, has featured the latest odds. The betting is done largely by literary insiders, says Graham Sharpe, who sets the Booker odds at William Hill, Britain's other big betting agency. "They read the books, hear the gossip and want to pull off a little coup for themselves," he says. Last year's winner, "The Old Devils" by Kingsley Amis, was a 5-2 favorite, but this year, anyone who chose the victor made some dough. "When she accepted her prize for "Moon Tiger," Penelope Lively looked surprised and pleased. "I'm not a betting woman, and I have slight reservations about books becoming a spectator sport," she said in soft Oxbridge tones. "But those who are in the know tell me that 7-1 was an irresistible flutter." Her 65-year-old mother was among those who made a killing. America has the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Awards, but in terms of excitement, hoopla and man-on-the-street interest, there's nothing akin to the 15,000-pound ($26,000) Booker Prize. With the possible exception of France's respected Prix Goncourt, there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Britons wryly compare the Booker to the Academy Awards, and though there's just one prize and no envelope, similarities exist. There's a team of judges and a pool of candidates. This year each British publisher could submit three new titles, for a grand total of 93. As one judge noted wearily, "By August, I was in more than a slight panic, sometimes reading all day and evening; reading while standing at the bus stop, reading while cooking, reading, almost, while talking on the telephone." Next comes the "short-list," the judges' top six, which was announced with great fanfare in late September. This year the works included Brian Moore's political thriller "The Color of Blood" (E.P. Dutton, 182 pages, $16.95); Peter Ackroyd's "Chatterton" (Grove Press, 240 pages, $17.95); Nina Bawden's "Circles of Deceit" (St. Martin's Press, 208 pages, $14.95); Iris Murdoch's 23rd novel "The Book and the Brotherhood" (Viking, 608 pages, $19.95); Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe's "Anthills of the Savannah" (Doubleday, 240 pages, $16.95); and "Moon Tiger" (Grove Press, 216 pages, $15.95). The awards presentation came on the last Thursday in October, and like any major awards presentation, it came complete with limousines, banquet (salmon mousse, champagne sorbet and English roast beef) and television cameras. The suspense was genuine; the judges chose the winner just three hours before the announcement. To be sure, the ratings for the prime-time broadcast didn't upstage those of "Eastenders," Britain's popular soap opera. Yet interest was sufficient for Andre Deutsch, "Moon Tiger's" British publisher, to order up an additional 20,000 copies almost the minute Mrs. Lively -- and the nation -- heard the news. By British standards, sales figures for recent Booker winners are stunning, from "The Old Devils" (80,000 hard-cover copies) to Anita Brookner's "Hotel du Lac" (40,000 copies). Even Keri Hulme's "The Bone People," a look at Maori culture that most readers found impenetrable, reached a respectable 21,000 in 1985. Short-listed authors are just a few paces behind, sharing the best-seller list with Dick Francis and Scott Turow. Heinemann initially printed 3,000 copies of "Anthills of the Savannah," the usual run for contemporary literary fiction. So far, 10,000 copies have sold. "Being short-listed probably changed the destiny of that book," declares a member of the Heinemann sales staff. Indeed, there's currently talk of initiating a similar prize with a similar purse for the year's best biography. Another notable spinoff is the Booker harpies, readers intent on digesting all six titles, then vigorously disputing the choices, which never please everyone. This year the Sunday Times offered readers a complete autographed collection of the six books for the equivalent of $112, perfect fodder for the literary cocktail party cot. It wasn't always this way, of course. Headlines were modest back in 1969 when P.H. Newby won the first ever Booker Prize for "Something to Answer For." (The wonderfully appropriate name comes from Booker-McConnell PLC, the international food and agriculture conglomerate that puts up the prize money each year.) The idea was to devise a British equivalent to the Prix Goncourt, and like that august French award, the Booker attracted attention the minute it kicked up controversy. The early fuss was kept within the literary world, with critics sniping over choices and the prize's varied ground rules. The real world took notice in 1974, when Elizabeth Jane Howard, one of the three judges, wrote a letter to the Times claiming that in her opinion Kingsley Amis's "Ending Up," one of the short-listed books, was his best ever. As it happens, she was married to Mr. Amis at the time. He didn't win. But many credit the Booker's current appeal to the 1982 competition and Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's Ark," or "Schindler's List" as it is known in the U.S. Written as a novel, the book told the true story of a remarkable German who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews in concentration camps. But even after it won the Booker, people argued that it wasn't a novel. "The more people questioned it, the more it sold," says Ion Trewin, editorial director at Hodder &amp; Stoughton. "That was the first year the prize caught the media and public imagination. Suddenly the Booker gained inches on front pages." Oh yes, "Moon Tigers" is a dying woman's recollection of her life as a World War II war correspondent and her affair with a young tank officer. --- Ms. Trucco is a free-lance writer based in London. 
 Two corporate executives sat down in an office here last month to talk business with a bunch of clowns. The subject was no laughing matter, but rather the serious endeavor of finding South Korea's Ronald McDonald. Seven years after the U.S. hamburger giant first tried to bring its Big Macs to South Korea, the golden arches were finally going up. McAhn Industries Ltd. recently opened the first of what it expects will be a string of burger outlets in Seoul. The company is a 50-50 joint venture of McDonald's Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., and an accountant-turned-entrepreneur, Ahn Hyo Young. McDonald's is flourishing in 11 other nations in the region. But its entry into South Korea, which has Asia's fastest-growing economy, had been frustrated by its inability to find a suitable partner and to win agreement from Seoul on terms. South Korea may be one of McDonald's most promising foreign markets, business analysts say. The country is developing an essential ingredient for the success of a fast-food enterprise: a middle class. Hamburger-related fast-food sales in South Korea totaled $87.5 million last year, a 30% rise from 1986, according to the Ministry of Finance. Analysts say this year's rise could be much bigger, helped by a 25% increase in wages in mid-1987 and another big pay increase expected soon. The business is likely to profit from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul in September, and from an anticipated post-Olympic economic boom here. However, the competition is heating up, and there is "a good possibility that South Korea already has reached the fast-food saturation point for its current average income bracket," an official for the South Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry says. The competition, besides Wendy's International's 11 shops and six of Burger King, a unit of Pillsbury Co., includes home-grown burger chains. McDonald's strategy is to take things slowly, avoiding extravagances, Mr. Ahn and Awad Sifri, McDonald's marketing director, say. "We are starting small," says Mr. Ahn. "We're hoping to open three outlets this year and five next year. After that, we'd like to open five every year." Equally modest, he says, will be the initial menu: no breakfast, no Chicken McNuggets and no products tailored to national tastes, as offered elsewhere. The venture is rejecting television commercials in favor of a cheaper, more oldfashioned approach: a brief advertising campaign in newspapers, distribution of fliers and word of mouth. Mr. Sifri says the emphasis will be on developing McDonald's image as an affordable place for the emerging middle class, rather than as a familiar name for foreigners in South Korea. Attention will be given to attracting children, he adds. Mr. Ahn says McDonald's talked to 16 potential partners before choosing the Harvard-trained accountant in 1984. Two years later, McDonald's and Mr. Ahn each put up $1 million in capital and borrowed an additional $4 million to form McAhn. McDonald's struggled with the government over McAhn's royalty payments to the U.S. partner -- the issue was resolved -- and over tight import restrictions on food products. The import question "came down to finding a supplier locally who could supply high-quality beef and potatoes at a value," McDonald's said. Even McDonald's golden arches symbol ran into red tape, since the city regulates the size and color of signs. "It may be against the law, but we're putting them up anyway," Mr. Ahn says. 
 Doctors should be cautious in prescribing aspirin as a preventer of heart attacks until more research supports its value, the Food and Drug Administration said. Taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks may increase some people's chances of dying of other things, especially hemorrhagic strokes, the agency said in a commentary in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. The FDA persuaded aspirin makers in March to refrain from promoting aspirin as a preventer of first heart attacks, at least for now. A study published in January indicated an aspirin every other day reduced the risk of nonfatal, first heart attacks 47% in 11,000 male doctors over five years, compared with 11,000 who took a non-aspirin substitute. Aspirin tends to promote bleeding by reducing the ability of blood platelets to help form clots. Heart attacks usually occur when clots form in the arteries nourishing the heart and choke off its blood supply. But aspirin may increase health risks for people who already have clotting problems, or for those who have high blood pressure, which puts them at increased risk for hemorrhagic strokes, the FDA commentary said. Strokes are the result of brain damage caused by bleeding in the brain or by blood clots; hemorrhagic strokes are those caused by bleeding. The FDA commentary pointed to 10 hemorrhagic strokes recorded among the 11,000 subjects taking aspirin in the recent study, compared with two such strokes among 11,000 subjects taking the substitute. Overall death rates for the two groups were the same, though the aspirin group's nonfatal heart-attack rate was much lower. There were 104 nonfatal heart attacks among the aspirin users and 189 in the comparison group. "Physicians, will, for a time, be forced to make their professional judgments about aspirin use on the basis of incomplete information," said the FDA commentary, co-written by agency Director Dr. Frank E. Young. "We agree with them completely," said Dr. Julie Buring, a Harvard University researcher who participated in the aspirin study. She added in a telephone interview yesterday that an extension of the study is under way, and researchers expect to report to the FDA in late fall. The commentary noted a British study, also released in January, of 5,000 male physicians that found that aspirin failed to protect against heart attacks, and that it was associated with a 2 1/2-fold increase in disabling strokes. 
 Hurricane Gilbert swept toward Jamaica yesterday with 100-mile-an-hour winds, and officials issued warnings to residents on the southern coasts of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. The storm ripped the roofs off houses and caused coastal flooding in Puerto Rico. In the Dominican Republic, all domestic flights and flights to and from Puerto Rico and Miami were canceled. Forecasters said the hurricane was gaining strength as it passed over the ocean and would dump heavy rain on the Dominican Republic and Haiti as it moved south of Hispaniola, the Caribbean island they share, and headed west. "It's still gaining strength. It's certainly one of the larger systems we've seen in the Caribbean for a long time," said Hal Gerrish, forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla. At 3 p.m. EDT, the center of the hurricane was about 100 miles south of the Dominican Republic and 425 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica. The hurricane was moving west at about 15 mph and was expected to continue this motion for the next 24 hours. Forecasters said the hurricane's track would take it about 50 miles south of southwestern Haiti. The hurricane center said small craft in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should remain in port until conditions improve. The forecasters said the Dominican Republic would get as much as 10 inches of rain yesterday, with similar amounts falling in Haiti last night and tonight. Hurricane warnings were issued for the south coast of Haiti and Cuba by their respective governments. In Jamaica, the government issued a hurricane watch for the entire island. Tropical Storm Gilbert formed in the eastern Caribbean and strengthened into a hurricane Saturday night. In Puerto Rico, besides tearing off several roofs, the storm caused coastal flooding and brought down power lines and trees along roads and highways in the west and southwestern regions. Three people were injured in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, when a tree fell on their vehicle as they traveled along Route 97, police reported. Four policemen stationed on Mona Island, between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, were stranded as a result of the weather. 
 The 1984 Summer Olympic Games weren't even over when advertisers began clamoring for pixie gymnast Mary Lou Retton. She went on to grin relentlessly through some $5 million worth of commercial endorsements -- surely an Olympic record in itself. But when the 1988 Summer Games ended Sunday night, so, too, did the chance for American athletes to follow in her footsteps. Ad agency executives, who spend every fourth year glued to their TV sets, hoping to pick out the next star to hawk their clients' products, say that this Olympiad was a dud. "I suspect this will go down as the dullest in the history of the Olympics," says Jerry Della Femina, chairman of ad agency Della Femina McNamee WCRS. "This is the first Olympics without passion, and without passion you don't have testimonials. Without heroes, you don't have anyone that anyone wants to emulate." On the surface, the Games seemed to offer all the drama that usually makes for lucrative endorsement contracts. Who could forget diver Greg Louganis smacking his head on the springboard, then coming back to win two gold medals? Or flamboyant Florence Griffith Joyner, her two-inch fingernails raking the air as she won the 100-meter sprint? But even these two, along with Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won the women's heptathalon and the long jump, may find it more difficult than in previous years to turn gold medals into gold in the bank. The fact is, say many marketers, Olympic gold has lost much of its commercial luster. "I don't think it's big money like it used to be," says Michael Goldberg of National Media Group Inc., the New York sports-marketing firm that represents Ms. Retton. "It used to be kind of a knee-jerk reaction to do an ad campaign around an Olympic athlete. It just doesn't happen anymore." Certainly, this year's winning Olympians will have no trouble securing contracts from specialized sports-equipment outfitters and speaking invitations from obscure trade groups. But the major, high-paying endorsements -- such as those with soft-drink companies and fast-food outlets -- just don't seem to be surfacing, at least not yet. Earlier this year, sports marketers estimated that a gold medal won during the Summer Games could earn a personable athlete more than $1 million in endorsements. Now, marketers say, these medalists will be lucky to pull in $100,000 to $500,000 a year. Advertisers can reel off a litany of reasons why these Olympics aren't igniting much spark. For one thing, they suffer by comparison with the 1984 Summer Games, so exciting because they were held in Los Angeles and because, in the absence of boycotting Soviet-bloc countries, the Americans won 83 gold medals. The 1988 Games, by contrast, were broadcast from halfway around the world, and the Soviets trounced the Americans, 55 gold medals to 36. What's more, marketers say, this year's drug scandals cast a pall over the Games, especially the incident involving Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who lost his gold medal after testing positive for steroids. NBC's TV coverage also gets its share of the blame. Marketers say it was so bland and skipped so frequently from one event to another that there was little chance for excitement to build. The constant commercial interruptions, which led to ratings that were much lower than expected, didn't help, either. During most of the past Games, "there was enough continuous TV coverage so that, much like a soap opera, it was possible to get involved in the lives and in the competition," says Leigh Steinberg, attorney for ice-skater Brian Boitano, a gold medalist at the 1988 Winter Games. But not this summer, he says. Recent changes in Olympic rules, meanwhile, have led to a glut of Olympians in search of endorsement deals. Before the 1984 Games, most Olympic athletes weren't allowed to make commercials unless they gave up their amateur status. Now, they can appear in as many ads as they want, but the income must go into a trust fund for training expenses. "Every year, more and more Olympic people are out there wanting to do commercials -- basically, everybody is available," says Daisy Sinclair, a vice president with ad agency Ogilvy Group Inc. As a result, while once an "aura" surrounded an Olympian, now "the bloom is off." Companies also are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to celebrity endorsements. Increasingly cost conscious, they will no longer hook up with an Olympian just because the company president likes the athlete's sport. And after years of paying big bucks to Olympic stars only to see them fade into obscurity, companies have finally gotten the hint that Olympian fame is of the most fleeting variety. "If you think your phone will ring off the hook if (you win) a gold medal, it isn't going to happen anymore," says Stephen Disson, senior vice president of marketing for ProServ Inc., a Washington sports-marketing firm. Companies now know that "six months from now there will be other heroes from other sporting events" for them to consider. Ad agency BBDO Worldwide's attitude toward the Olympics is becoming typical. It uses sports stars in its commercials for Pepsi Light and Oppenheimer Mutual Funds but has no plans to call on any of 1988's Olympians. "I prefer to use athletes who are in the public eye on a regular basis, like football and basketball players," says Charles Miesmer, the agency's executive creative director. "People like Michael Jordan have 10-plus years in their sports careers, all in a row, so I don't have to worry about the public saying, 'Carl who?'" And don't look for any of 1988's winners to start showing up on Wheaties boxes, either. General Mills Inc., which has featured Ms. Retton and decathalon gold-medalist Bruce Jenner on its Wheaties boxes in the past, says it looks for three qualities in an endorser: career achievement, popular appeal and off-the-field accomplishments. A spokeswoman says that none of this year's crop meet all three criteria. So far, Ms. Joyner-Kersee has had the most visible endorsements. Even before the Olympics began, she had made commercials for Primatene mist and 7-Up. And, according to her agent, Pearl Hodge of World Class Management, she is now "in the process" of signing with McDonald's Corp., to work on behalf of its efforts to aid underprivileged children. Ms. Joyner-Kersee's sister-in-law, Ms. Griffith Joyner, may soon take the endorsement lead. Advertisers say with her good looks and fashion flare, she is attracting more interest than any of the other medal winners. (The sprinter's manager couldn't be reached for comment.) Another Olympian with endorsement potential is swimmer Matt Biondi, who won five gold medals. Mr. Biondi has already signed a swim-wear contract with Arena USA Inc., and Parkes Brittain, his agent at Advantage International Inc., says his client "will definitely be in a high-income ring, the highest you can name." Then there is Mr. Louganis. Since winning two gold medals during the 1984 Summer Olympics, the diver has had little luck with major endorsements. And a few marketing executives say that even his second sweep of the diving events may not up his potential. "When most advertisers are looking for the male hero, the word 'macho' trails along very closely," says Marty Blackman of Blackman &amp; Raber, a sports-marketing firm in New York. "I don't find Louganis a macho guy." Still, other marketing professionals say that Mr. Louganis's dramatic recovery after smashing his head has secured the diver's future. His manager, Jim Babbitt, won't comment on any contract offers. He will say, however, that his client has "done just fine. He isn't unhappy. He dives to perform; he doesn't dive for dollars." --- Winning Endorsements There is only one former Olympian among the top sports endorsers of last year. ATHLETE: Arnold Palmer (Golf) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Hertz, PaineWebber, Pennzoil, United Airlines, GTE, Toro, Loft Seed Co., Sears, Pro Group, Robert Bruce, Westin Hotels ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $8 million ATHLETE: Jack Nicklaus (Golf) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Bostonian Shoe Co., Hart Schaffner &amp; Marx, Optique Du Monde, Pine Hosiery Mills, Warnaco ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $6 million ATHLETE: Boris Becker (Tennis) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Puma, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Bank, Polaroid, UNICEF ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $6 million ATHLETE: Greg Norman (Golf) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Reebok, Spalding, Epson Computers, Hertz, Qantas Airlines, Daikyo Group, Swan Lager &amp; Castlemaine, Akubia Hats ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $4.5 million ATHLETE: Michael Jordan (Basketball, 1984 Olympian) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Nike, Wilson, Excelsior, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Johnson Products, Ohio Art ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $4 million ATHLETE: Ivan Lendl (Tennis) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Gleneagles Country Club, Avis, Seiko, Adidas, Bow Brand Strings ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $3 million ATHLETE: John Madden (Former football coach) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Ace Hardware, Miller Lite, Ramada, Exxon, Canon, Greyhound ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $3 million ATHLETE: Jim McMahon (Football) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Taco Bell, Kraft Foods, Ebel Watches, Honda, Adidas, LJN Toys, Revo Sunglasses ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $3 million ATHLETE: Dennis Conner (Yachting) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Rayban, Sperry Topsider, Wrigley's, Disney, Lacoste, Pepsi-Cola ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $2 million ATHLETE: Chris Evert (Tennis) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Lipton Iced Tea, Wilson Converse, Ellesse, Polo Club of Boca Raton, Rolex, Evert Active Life Skin Care, Marchon Sunwear for Ellesse ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $2 million ATHLETE: Martina Navratilova (Tennis) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Puma, Lufthansa Airlines, Vuarnet, DHL, Sugar-Free Jello, Aspen Club, RKO Video, World Tennis Magazine ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $2 million ATHLETE: Jackie Stewart (Retired race car driver) NATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS: Ford, Goodyear, USF&amp;G, Rolex, Gleneagles, American Express, British Telecom, ICCI ESTIMATED 1987 EARNINGS: $2 million Source: Sports Marketing Newsletter 
 Say what you want about Albert Goldman, the author of the new biography, "The Lives of John Lennon" (Morrow, $22.95), but you've got to hand it to him: This guy is one ambitious sleazemonger. Most best-selling pop biographers play it safe: They choose a celeb of respectable, not to say pristine, reputation, and then they proceed to blacken it, preferably by recounting vaguely sourced tales of sexual excess, chemical dependency, personal unkindness, raw business dealings, even, in some cases, dyslexia. The resulting portrait of a dissipated ogre who can't spell is duly presented in hardback form to the public, which in turn is so shocked and disgusted that it forces itself to buy the biography by the millions. A can't-miss formula, surely. Albert Goldman's previous victim in the genre was Elvis Presley. Now Mr. Presley was, if you'll forgive the expression, a fat target for a writer of Mr. Goldman's methods. His title notwithstanding, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" was in truth more a creature of the old show biz, a star whose wholesome image, carefully created by P.R. wizards, was ripe for debunking. But in choosing Mr. Lennon as his next target, Mr. Goldman appears to be trying to debunk the undebunkable. For apart from his puerile politics, Mr. Lennon's favorite topic in the thousands of interviews he gave was his own squalid history: His voracious drug use, his perfidy to employees, his unquenchable sexual promiscuity and so on. By his own accounting, then, Mr. Lennon was not about to dethrone Ward Cleaver as the all-American dad. His public loved him in spite of it all -- or perhaps because of it all. Mr. Lennon grew to celebrity during a time when such transgressions as intemperance and adultery (quaint terms!) were losing their social sting. His candor -- if that's what it was, and not simple logorrhea -- redeemed everything. And so it is on the grounds of insufficient candor that the resourceful Mr. Goldman, hot to debunk, attacks his subject. The leitmotif of Mr. Lennon's confessions was that his worst days were behind him, and that with Yoko Ono he had at last learned to prize the virtues of quietude and domesticity. Now Mr. Goldman is here to announce: He didn't tell you the half of it. Hence this 718-page stew of unrelieved sordidness, percolating with the "scoops" that have by now been widely publicized in People magazine, "West 57th" and other scholarly venues: that Mr. Lennon had a thing for young boys; that his marriage to Ms. Ono was pocked by the same faithlessness and rancor that characterized his first marriage; that he had a sweet tooth that just wouldn't quit. The squalid revelations dribble out like a chemical leak, sliming up every page. Remarkably, then, the sleazemonger's art has triumphed: Mr. Goldman's John Lennon is even worse than John Lennon's John Lennon. A great deal of this muck manages to splash onto Ms. Ono, whom Mr. Goldman portrays as a cynical manipulator whose major talent lay in exploiting Mr. Lennon to further her own craving for fame and wealth. Mr. Goldman, alas, allows to pass unremarked the obvious irony that this is a rather fine thumbnail sketch of himself as well. The keepers of the Lennon flame have of course been quick to point this out. Ms. Ono and her son have taken the path preferred by offended celebrities, they have hit the talk shows to display their wounds. And Rolling Stone magazine, long the house organ for the Lennon publicity machine, recently published an extensive rebuttal to the book, which was undercut by a tone of priggish indignation bordering on the comic. Criticizing "The Lives of John Lennon" for insufficient respect to the fallen Beatle's legacy is rather off the point -- like condemning Charles Manson for his bad table manners. The book may indeed be inaccurate, as critics have charged. But one can only hope that quibbles about its veracity do not obscure the countless other reasons to hate Mr. Goldman's book. There is, for starters, the sloppy, pompous prose, so suggestive of the grad-school smoking lounge -- Mr. Goldman is the sort of writer who refers to pop songs as "pieces," as though they were concerti. There is his knowing, hipper-than-thou approach -- toward drugs, sex, music -- that gives him license to second-guess Mr. Lennon's every move. And there is the awkward organization, in which minor events assume large proportions for the simple reason that they reflect badly on Mr. Lennon, while major events are skipped over lightly because -- there goes the advance! -- they might reveal Mr. Lennon in a flattering light. All of which indicates why "The Lives of John Lennon" is such a wretched book: not because it makes a good man look bad, but because it shows no other purpose than to make a man -- whether a good man or a bad one, we laymen will probably never know -- look bad. John Lennon, while he was alive, did enough of that himself to satisfy all but the lowest appetites. --- Mr. Ferguson is assistant managing editor of The American Spectator. 
 Walk. Sit. Stay. Roll over. Go to court. Such is the life of one German short-haired pointer, a show dog bearing the name CH. Robin Crest Lorien Corniche. Cory, as he is called for short, isn't any run-of-the-litter critter. The "CH." in his name stands for champion. He has won 245 show awards as Best of Breed and 19 awards as Best in Show. Basically, his problem comes from serving more than one master. One of the dog's three owners thinks the kennel-club world has seen enough of Cory, who is four years old. The other two owners think he has plenty of prizes still ahead. In what is fast becoming a pit-bull match, the one owner, Anthony Attalla, is suing the other two, John and Rita Remondi, charging that they have been showing Cory even though he is officially retired (as announced in Dog News). In the suit, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, Mr. Attalla says, "Cory has achieved the pinnacle of success . . . and any further competition would only diminish what he has accomplished." Mr. Attalla claims that his work with Cory is no gravy train. In the suit, he says that under the owners' agreement he lays out fees and other expenses for showing the animal and he decides when to show -- or to retire -- Cory. So far, Mr. Attalla says, he's spent over $125,000, the amount sought in damages. In return, he is entitled to all ribbons and awards. The Remondis are in charge of caring for the dog. Despite the retirement, the suit says, the Remondis showed Cory twice recently. (He placed fourth and then didn't place at all.) For now, a judge's order temporarily bars them from further shows. In a memo filed in court, Mr. Remondi claims that Mr. Attalla retired the dog "simply and solely to better" the chances that Mr. Attalla's agent would win with a rival Rover. The Remondis also say Mr. Attalla has bought a Rottweiler to show in another category and doesn't want to spend money on both Cory and the other dog. They claim that Mr. Attalla has breached the pact by not paying certain expenses. Stud fees are also at issue. The Remondis argue that the retirement "fraudulently" deprives them of their opportunity to show Cory, a dog who they assert "is in the best condition of his life." 
 The mass emigration of thousands of disaffected East Germans has rekindled reunification talk in West Germany, where some legislators plan to begin exploring the possiblity of reuniting the two Germanys. No one is predicting a date for a possible reunification. Proponents acknowledge the risks of assuming too much of East Bloc reform trends, and most hedge their thoughts with careful references to Washington and Moscow. Yet growing signs of ferment in East Germany have given Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government reason to consider the possibilities. Eduard Lintner, parliamentary speaker on German affairs for the joint Christian Democrat and Christrian Socialist caucus in the Bundestag, said his committee has placed reunification on its October agenda. He said the sessions, which will include government officials and outside experts, hopefully can devise reunification models to discuss with West Germany's Western allies, particularly the U.S. "It has become clear to the world that the Communist system in East Germany is in trouble," Mr. Lintner said. "The time has come for us to show our allies, but also reform-minded people in the East, that German reunification is no longer just a theory but a subject requiring a serious appraisal of how it could come about." "There are still a number of imponderables," Mr. Linter conceded. "For instance, we want the federal government to approach our allies and get their thoughts on the reunification topic." The U.S. ambassador to Bonn, Vernon A. Walters, earlier this month reaffirmed Washington's policy of supporting a German reunification based on free, democratic elections. But Mr. Walters caused a stir by predicting that reunion could occur in the relatively near future. Emerging opposition to uncompromising Communist rule in East Germany has raised questions on how long East Berlin's leaders can resist the democratic reforms sweeping through neighboring East Bloc countries. Reforms in Poland, Hungary and even the Soviet Union have magnified East Germany's Stalinist controls. Fledgling protest groups, and the influential Protestant church, have begun pressing for reforms in East Germany which, if allowed to include free elections, could eventually lead to a reunited Germany, according to some Western experts. Dorothee Wilms, Bonn's cabinet minister for inter-German affairs, said in an interview in the newspaper Welt am Sonntag that recent polls show that between 85% and 90% of all West Germans favor a reunifed Germany. "The desire for reunification, a feeling of togetherness, a sense of nationhood -- all this has strongly increased in recent years," Ms. Wilms told the newspaper. "The recent escape movement from the DDR makes especially clear that people of both German states want to live free amongst themselves," she said, but cautioned that reunification cannot occur overnight. The first step, she added, "is the reform process in the DDR." Most West German governments since 1949 have paid only lip service to the reunification goal set down in the preamble of West Germany's constitution. Political realities have prevented the topic from becoming a serious issue. Analysts say that four decades of different systems would make reunification difficult. Further, many West German workers worry that a mass influx of East Germans could threaten their jobs. Thousands of East Germans have emigrated to West Germany over the Austro-Hungarian border since Budapest ignored East Berlin's protests and opened its border. Close to 80,000 East German refugees have arrived in West Germany so far this year, either legally or by escaping, and a total of more than 100,000 are expected by December. The Soviets have joined East Berlin in criticizing Bonn for welcoming the East German refugees, and chided Hungary for violating an emigration treaty with East Germany by allowing them to leave. Moscow, which has tolerated reforms elsewhere in the East Bloc, is said to be concerned by conditions in East Germany, perhaps the most important of its Warsaw Pact satellites. Unconfirmed West German intelligence reports appearing in the West German media said Moscow fears a growing dissident movement and mass demonstrations in East Germany by next year. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accepted an invitation to attend East Germany's 40th anniversary celebration, providing an opportunity for serious discussions with Erich Honecker, East Berlin's ailing party leader. East Germany's Communist leadership, commented the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, "has no illusions as to why Gorbachev is honoring their 40th anniversary. He certainly will not say 'well done, keep it up.'" 
 Hurricane Hugo will go down in the record books as the costliest storm insurers have faced so far, but it won't cause property-casualty premium rates to rise immediately, analysts and company officials say. The property claims service division of the American Insurance Service Group, a trade association, is expected to announce its estimate of total insured losses tomorrow. "Hugo will be the biggest hurricane loss on record," said one official, far surpassing the $752.5 million insurers paid out after Frederick ripped through several Gulf Coast states in 1979. The impact on premium rates could be minimal for now, analysts expect, because the biggest losses will be in the personal insurance area -- for homes and autos. Most companies typically set aside funds from premiums they collect every year to cover claims they might have to pay in the future. In the last three years, hurricane and storm seasons have been relatively mild, so insurers haven't had to dip into these funds. And since Hugo also stormed through the Caribbean, foreign insurers are at risk for some of the damage on those islands. Yet, some analysts believe Hugo's huge losses will make a dent in the industry's capital and crimp cash flow; that could make insurers less likely to slash premium rates further in coming months. Rates have been falling since late 1986. Udayan Ghose at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. believes these reasons might cause rates to edge higher by mid-1990. For the time being, the losses from Hugo "will be substantial, but they won't be something the industry can't handle," said Charles L. Ruoff, director of strategic planning at Fred S. James &amp; Co., a New York-based insurance broker. For instance, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. estimates it will pay claims totaling more than $400 million to homeowners and for some small businesses. Nationwide Insurance Co., a mutual company based in Columbus, Ohio, said Hugo "is the single largest claims disaster" it has seen in its 63-year history. The company, which is the largest home and auto insurer in North Carolina and No. 3 in South Carolina, has already received 16,000 claims from the stricken region. Claims could total $100 million, a spokesman said. For some insurers, Hugo was a double-whammy. New York-based Continental Corp., which is a big insurer in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and South Carolinas, said it will take a $50 million pretax charge against earnings this quarter, reflecting its net exposure to the damages caused by the hurricane. "Hugo will be particularly costly to us," said John P. Mascotte, Continental's chairman. Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp., which has extensive domestic, foreign and reinsurance operations in the areas Hugo hit, and USF&amp;G Corp. in Baltimore, a big insurer in the Carolina region, could also be forced to take one-time charges against third-quarter earnings, analysts said. Some of USF&amp;G's losses hit very close home -- its Charleston office was destroyed by the hurricane. Both USF&amp;G and Cigna declined to predict whether they would take a charge; USF&amp;G said it would be responsible for the first $22.5 million of losses, and its reinsurance would cover the bulk of additional losses. Hugo could have a marginal impact on third-quarter income at Travelers Corp., Aetna Life &amp; Casualty Insurance Co. and Chubb Corp., according to industry analysts. Mr. Ruoff at Fred S. James believes that even if losses from Hugo total as much as $5 billion, insurers won't feel enough "financial pain, such as not being able to pay shareholder dividends," to compel them to boost premium rates right away. He explained that in the first six months of this year, net income for the industry declined slightly from 1988, but insurance companies were still earning an adequate rate of return on equity. He also noted that the industry's aggregate net worth or policyholders' surplus, currently at $125 billion, is also plentiful. Generally, insurers can book about $3 of premiums for every $1 of surplus. Right now, premiums total about $200 billion, he said. An official at Nationwide Insurance noted that the company has $1 of surplus for every $2 of insurance that it writes. Insurers also buy protection for themselves through reinsurance by paying another company a portion of the premium to bear some of the losses. Michael Lewis at Dean Witter Reynolds said losses from Hugo could be big enough to "temporarily" increase reinsurance rates. Although reinsurance will limit the exposure of some companies, the losses they must still cover could hurt third-quarter results. Niagara Exchange Corp., based in Buffalo, N.Y., said Monday it will report a loss from operations for the third quarter, and possibly for the year, because of the substantial losses that its Charleston Insurance Co. unit faces as a result of the hurricane. State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, doesn't buy reinsurance. It believes its reserves are plentiful enough to absorb its losses, a spokesman said. 
 Damage from Hurricane Hugo, which stormed through the Carolinas and the Caribbean last week, will reduce third-quarter earnings for several insurers. New York-based American International Group Inc. expects net losses related to Hugo to reduce pretax earnings between $35 million and $45 million. Analysts said AIG has told them that it must cover the first $35 million of losses and that its reinsurance agreements will cover the bulk of the remaining damages. AIG insured property in Puerto Rico, the eastern Caribbean Islands and the coastal regions of the Carolinas. St. Paul Cos., based in St. Paul, Minn, said the pretax cost of Hugo shouldn't exceed $50 million. That amount takes into consideration what St. Paul expects to recover under its reinsurance contracts, the company said. Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. is expected to disclose Hugo's likely impact on its earnings sometime today. Udayan Ghose, an insurance industry analyst at Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York, estimates that Cigna's third-quarter per-share earnings could be reduced by between 50 cents and 65 cents a share on an after-tax basis. That would wipe out 35% to 40% of his $1.40-a-share earnings estimate for the third quarter. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. said its State Fire &amp; Casualty Co. unit estimates claim payments from Hugo will exceed $400 million in South Carolina alone, far surpassing the company's record payout for a single disaster. When damages in North Carolina and Virginia are added, the company said, the payments will exceed $500 million. It said that is more than three times the previous record of $165 million set by Hurricane Alicia, which hit the Houston-Galveston, Texas, area in 1983. 
 The White House is making sure nobody will accuse it of taking this crisis lightly. In the aftermath of the California earthquake, President Bush and his aides flew into a whirlwind of earthquake-related activity yesterday morning. Some of it was necessary to get federal help flowing to victims, but some seemed designed mostly to project an image of a White House in action. Mr. Bush and his aides were accused of responding too slowly after the Exxon Valdez oil tanker split open in Alaskan waters and Hurricane Hugo struck the Carolina coast, and they clearly don't want a repeat of those charges now. So the White House announced that Mr. Bush got his first earthquake briefing of the day at 6:30 a.m. from chief of staff John Sununu. By noon, Mr. Bush had taken two phone calls from Vice President Dan Quayle, who was in California; made a televised statement of concern; signed a disaster proclamation; received a written report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and visited FEMA headquarters. Mr. Bush himself essentially acknowledged that he and his aides were trying to head off criticism. On his FEMA visit, Mr. Bush said that he hoped there would be "less carping" about the emergency office's performance this time, adding that the agency "took a hit" for its reaction to Hurricane Hugo. The White House already is talking of Mr. Bush visiting the California earthquake site this weekend. He visited the Hugo devastation but not until after local leaders urged him to do so. 
 Insurers face the prospect of paying out billions of dollars for damages caused by this week's California earthquake. Getting a grip on the extent of the damages is proving a far more difficult task than what insurers faced after Hurricane Hugo ripped through the Caribbean and the Carolinas last month. The earthquake's toll, including possible deep structural damage, goes far beyond the more easily observed damage from a hurricane, says George Reider, a vice president in Aetna Life &amp; Casualty Insurance Co.'s claims division. But investors are betting that the financial and psychological impact of the earthquake, coming so soon after the hurricane, will help stem more than two years of intense price-cutting wars among business insurers. Reflecting that logic, insurance-company stocks posted strong gains. Aetna and other insurers are hiring engineers and architects to help them assess structural damage. Most insurers already have mobilized their "catastrophe" teams to begin processing claims from their policyholders in northern California. Since commercial air travel is interrupted, Aetna, based in Hartford, Conn., chartered three planes to fly claims adjusters into Sacramento and then planned for them to drive to the Bay area. About 25 adjusters were dispatched yesterday afternoon, along with laptop computers, cellular phones and blank checks. Some adjusters, already in other parts of California, drove to the disaster area with recreational vehicles and mobile homes that could be used as makeshift claims-processing centers. Insurers will be advertising 800 numbers -- probably on the radio -- that policyholders can call to get assistance on how to submit claims. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest home and auto insurer in California, believes the losses from the earthquake could be somewhat less than the $475 million in damages it expects to pay out for claims resulting from Hurricane Hugo. State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ind., is also the largest writer of personal-property earthquake insurance in California. Earthquake insurance is sold as a separate policy or a specific endorsement "rider" on a homeowner's policy in California, because of the area's vulnerability to earthquakes. State Farm said about 25% of its policyholders in California have also purchased earthquake insurance. Allstate Insurance Co., a unit of Sears, Roebuck &amp; Co., said about 23% of its personal property policyholders -- about 28% in the San Franciso area -- also have earthquake coverage. The Association of California Insurance Companies estimated damage to residential property could total $500 million, but only $100 million to $150 million is insured, it said. Officials from the American Insurance Association's property-claim service division, which coordinates the efforts of the claims adjusters in an area after a natural disaster, will be flying to San Francisco today. They expect to have a preliminary estimate of the damages in a day or two. Roads and bridges in the Bay area appear to have suffered some of the most costly damage. Highways, such as the section of Interstate 880 that collapsed in Oakland, generally don't have insurance coverage. Industry officials say the Bay Bridge -- unlike some bridges -- has no earthquake coverage, either, so the cost of repairing it probably would have to be paid out of state general operating funds. However, the bridge, which charges a $1 toll each way, does have "loss of income" insurance to replace lost revenue if the operation of the bridge is interrupted for more than seven days. That coverage is provided by a syndicate of insurance companies including Fireman's Fund Corp., based in Novato, Calif., and Cigna Corp., based in Philadelphia. Earthquake-related claims aren't expected to cause significant financial problems for the insurance industry as a whole. Instead, even with the liabilities of two natural disasters in recent weeks, analysts said the total capital of the industry is likely to be higher at year end than it was at midyear. Indeed, the earthquake could contribute to a turnaround in the insurance cycle in a couple of ways. For example, insurers may seek to limit their future exposure to catastrophes by increasing the amount of reinsurance they buy. Such increased demand for reinsurance, along with the losses the reinsurers will bear from these two disasters, are likely to spur increases in reinsurance prices that will later be translated into an overall price rise. Reinsurance is protection taken out by the insurance firms themselves. "We are saying this is the breaking point, this is the event that will change the psychology of the marketplace," said William Yankus, an analyst with Conning &amp; Co., a Hartford firm that specializes in the insurance industry. His firm, along with some others, issued new buy recommendations on insurer stocks yesterday. Among the insurance stocks, big gainers included American International Group, up $3.25 to $102.625; General Re Corp., up $2.75 to $86.50; Aetna, up $2.375 to $59.50; and Marsh &amp; McLennan Inc., up $3.125 to $75.875. Still, a few individual companies, most likely smaller ones, could be devastated. "I think there is a damned good chance someone is going to hit the skids on this," said Oppenheimer &amp; Co. analyst Myron Picoult. He suspects some insurers who had purchased reinsurance to limit their exposure to catastrophes will discover that reinsurance was used up by Hurricane Hugo. British, West German, Scandinavian and other overseas insurers are bracing for big claims from the San Francisco earthquake disaster. Although it's unclear how much exposure the London market will face, U.K. underwriters traditionally have a large reinsurance exposure to U.S. catastrophe coverage. Jack Byrne, chairman of Fireman's Fund, said this disaster will test the catastrophe reinsurance market, causing these rates to soar. The catastrophe losses sustained by insurers this year will probably be the worst on an inflation-adjusted basis since 1906 -- when another earthquake sparked the Great San Francisco Fire. Orin Kramer, an insurance consultant in New York, estimates that the 1906 San Francisco destruction, on an inflation-adjusted basis, included insured losses of $5.8 billion. He is estimating this week's disaster will generate insured losses of $2 billion to $4 billion, following about $4 billion in costs to insurers from Hurricane Hugo. 
 WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence officials had been sounding alarms in recent days about a possible Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Emphasizing that the Central Intelligence Agency wasn't surprised by the Iraqi action, an agency spokesman said yesterday, "We provided policy makers with very useful and timely information on these events and we continue to do so." Administration and congressional officials agree that the CIA did its job. Since last week, President Bush had been warned by intelligence analysts that what originally looked like a military bluff was quickly turning into the kind of troop deployment that could be used to invade Kuwait or even Saudi Arabia. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Webster even hand-delivered certain fresh details on the Iraqi buildup to National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. Among the assessments he conveyed was a conclusion that, by this week, President Saddam Hussein's force would be capable of penetrating Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. The agency lacked hard evidence of an intent to invade, intelligence officials say. But as the buildup grew, the CIA became more alarmed, partly because Mr. Hussein is so unpredictable, and partly because, unlike many other Arab leaders, he has been known to carry out his threats. 
 John G. Tower, conservative Republican senator from Texas, son of a respected Methodist preacher, boozed it up and fooled around. His first marriage fell apart; his second made him miserable. All the while, he preened himself as the first statewide Republican officeholder since Reconstruction. John G. Tower wasn't -- isn't -- St. John the Divine, as he himself acknowledges with semi-charming candor in "Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir (Little, Brown, 388 pages, $22.95). Did he deserve, even so, public flagellation as George Bush's defense-secretary nominee? You would obviously expect Mr. Tower to say no, and he obliges: volubly and passionately. If that was all there was to "Consequences," we could scan the dust jacket and invest our savings in local real estate. "Consequences" reads a bit like a political Stephen King story as the small senator swelled into a Beltway monster. Politics never has been for the squeamish, but the Tower controversy leaves a much more disagreeable taste than did the senator's caperings (which mostly took place in the '70s anyway). Were the writing less stiff and the narrative technique less choppy, "Consequences" might have been a classic case study of late 20th-century politics out of control. Given Mr. Tower's qualifications for the job -- intelligence, patriotism and past chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee -- the nomination should have sailed through with flying colors. Instead it sank like the Bismarck. Clearly and apparently to his surprise, Mr. Tower had made many enemies since his arrival in Washington in 1961, often rubbing even supporters the wrong way. The senator from the Lone Star State could be lordly, in his English-cut suits. Once, meeting with the editors of my newspaper which had backed him strongly, he thought nothing of tilting back in his chair, crossing his tiny, well-shod feet atop the conference table. When the Tower hearings opened, all manner of accusations came to public notice. The New Right activist Paul Weyrich claimed to have seen the senator consorting with A Lady Not His Wife. It was reported that Mr. Tower had chased a secretary around his desk and had fondled women at Bergstrom Air Force Base. The second wife, whom the senator had recently divorced, possessed a repertory of tales she cheerfully volunteered. At his hotel, Mr. Tower was accorded that doubtful tribute to instant-celebrity status, the media stakeout. The nominee issued fervent denials: He drank only wine, having long since sworn off scotch; he'd never chased secretaries; his services for defense-industry clients had been proper and modest. None of the charges, at least on Mr. Tower's showing, proved to have the least substance. No use. Dirt is dirtier than purity is pure, as one of John O'Hara's characters observes. Sen. Sam Nunn, Mr. Tower's successor as Armed Services Committee chairman, seemed initially to smile on the nomination; then the rumor mill started churning and he changed fronts. While endeavoring to look statesmanlike, Sen. Nunn leaned on moderate Democrats who would otherwise have supported Tower. Sen. Nunn made the campaign personal, says Mr. Tower -- vote for me or vote for him. Most Democrats, in the end, went with Sen. Nunn. What was all this about? Morality? Mr. Tower suggests instead that Sen. Nunn, a presidential hopeful, discovered and seized an opportunity to show who was really No. 1 on national defense. Sen. Nunn had every reason to know that the moral and ethical charges leveled at Mr. Tower, and investigated exhaustively by the FBI, were flimsy. Yet he waved them about anyway. When the media retailed lurid and unsubstantiated stories, Sen. Nunn pursed his lips like a Georgia Sunday-school superintendent and suggested that a drunken Mr. Tower might accidentally press the nuclear button. "Sam Nunn," Mr. Tower insists, "used the FBI inquiries to discredit me and to strike at the president of the United States. The essential chain of good judgment and goodwill broke down during my confirmation process." Sen. Nunn has company on Mr. Tower's dishonor roll. There is Sen. Ernest Hollings ("a study in arrogance and pomposity"), Sen. James Exon ("one of the most excessive regular boozers in the Senate") and NBC's Andrea Mitchell ("the most viciously partisan reporter I've ever seen"), along with the Washington press corps. Sen. John Warner, a Republican, is depicted as falling all over himself to stay in good with Sen. Nunn. Mr. Tower feels, not without reason, that he was arraigned on morals charges by cynical colleagues and media personages whom no one ever mistook for Southern Baptist deacons. "I don't so much resent my rejection by the Senate," Mr. Tower insists, "as the way it was done." "Tower, you were lynched," Mike Wallace, the CBS correspondent, told him. Worse yet, the lynch mob remains at large. --- Mr. Murchison is a senior columnist for the Dallas Morning News. 
 EAST DENNIS, Mass. -- It's 5:30 a.m., an icy rain is falling from an indigo sky, and there's a stiff northeaster. This Cape Cod country road is deserted, but for the sweaty silhouette of John Kelley. Bounding up a hill in his thin green Windbreaker, with sand from the beach blowing into his face, Mr. Kelley shouts over the howling gale: "This isn't too bad, you know," he says, though the wind chill factor is about 20 below. Mr. Kelley is in training for the Boston Marathon -- his 60th Boston Marathon. And even at the age of 83, he probably will finish ahead of a large number of the 13,000 runners expected to compete -- officially or unofficially -- on April 15. Bill Rodgers, a four-time Boston Marathon winner who plans to run again this year, marvels at Mr. Kelley: "It's incomprehensible that a man his age is doing what he's doing. I'm struggling at the age of 43. . . . This isn't golf." Even the thought of running a course of 26 miles and 385 yards leaves some of Mr. Kelley's rivals of yesteryear gasping. "Aghast is more like it," says Leslie Pawson, 86, a three-time Boston champion who ran against Mr. Kelley half a century ago. "My doctor says: `No running, whatsoever.' I can't even remember when I ran my last marathon." John Adelbert Kelley is a throwback to a time when marathoners did it for glory and cab fare. A two-time winner in Boston (1935 and 1945) and runner-up seven times, Mr. Kelley is to be the oldest competitor in the race this year -- as he has been for 15 years. Mr. Kelley is such an institution that Hopkinton, Mass., where the race begins, has made him an honorary citizen. ("That means I don't have to pay taxes there," he jokes.) Two state troopers will run alongside the 5-foot-6, 130-pound Mr. Kelley into Boston so he won't be trampled by "groupies," as he calls them, clamoring to shake his hand. Last year, five Japanese runners were waved away by the bodyguards, as they sidled up to the old celebrity during the race. Recalls Suni Tomomitsu, one of the runners: "At first we thought, `Oh, wow, he's like Mafia man.' Then we said, `Oh no, this is nice Johnny Kelley.' In Japan, he is awesome." Though he isn't the oldest person ever to enter the Boston Marathon, Mr. Kelley is the oldest to run it. Peter Foley, who was born in 1859, was a regular until he was well into his 80s. But he walked the course. Starting at dawn (six hours before the official noon start), Mr. Foley would eventually saunter across the finish line in the moonlight. Of course, Mr. Kelley -- not to be confused with the other John Kelley, who won the Boston Marathon in 1957 -- isn't the runner he was in 1935 when he won the race, in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 7 seconds. His best time ever was in 1945: 2 hours, 30 minutes, 40 seconds. Last year he finished in 5 hours, 5 minutes. He hopes to do better in 1991. "That's not a prediction, just a goal," he says. When John Kelley first toed the line in 1928, George Bush wasn't yet in kindergarten, Joe DiMaggio was an unknown and Nike was the winged goddess of victory, not a running shoe. In those days, Mr. Kelley recalls, he ran in black leather high-jumping shoes that he cut open at the toes with a razor blade. "I would have loved to run with the worst pair of sneakers on the market today," he says. Back then, the sport didn't have much of a following. Today, of course, the Boston Marathon is a big deal, covered by TV from start to finish and offering $402,000 altogether in prize money. "The winners get a medal and $55,000," says Mr. Kelley. "I got a medal and beef stew. God bless them," he adds. "They deserve it." The rosy-cheeked, supple Mr. Kelley is a medical wonder. Each year, he visits the Cooper Clinic at the Aerobics Center in Dallas for a battery of endurance tests. "Physiologically, whatever that means, I got all A's," Mr. Kelley reports of his checkup four months ago. "What that means," explains Kenneth Cooper, the physician who wrote "Aerobics" and several sequels and is now at work on a book on elderly athletes, "is that Johnny has the body of a man 23 years younger. He's going to be one of the stars of my book." Mr. Kelley's resting pulse rate -- 60 beats a minute -- is well below the average person's 72 beats. (That's good.) On the stress test the clinic gives, Mr. Kelley holds the endurance record for his age group. A mechanic for Boston Edison Co. before he retired in 1972, Mr. Kelley started running in the evenings after work more than six decades ago. His only purpose was to relax and have some fun. "All day long, I did what my boss told me to do," he recalls. "But when I ran at night, I felt free. I ran till I was exhausted." In 1928, when he was 21, he entered his first Boston Marathon but didn't finish. He dropped out three-quarters of the way through the race. Then, in 1933, he finished 37th in a field of about 200 runners. In all the years since, he has missed the race just once, in 1967. (He has competed, all told, in 112 marathons, including the 1936 and 1948 Olympics. Mr. Kelley well knows the jagged course from Hopkinton to downtown Boston: The first challenge comes five miles into the race, where a set of little hills can get a psyched runner to waste energy charging up the slopes. A mile and a half later, there's new reason to beware: The smells of Cavanaugh's Bakery can set off hunger pangs. An Exxon station in Wellesley marks the halfway point. A steep descent into Newton Lower Falls can jar a tired runner's bones. Then, at the end of a long column of oak and maple trees, is Heartbreak Hill, his nemesis. It cost him at least two victories, he says. And finally there's the Haunted Mile, a stretch where many runners have collapsed. Boston's skyline, 2 1/2 miles in the distance, can seem so far away. Though still going strong, Mr. Kelley acknowledges the marathon gets tougher each year. To compensate, he trains harder. He used to start preparing in earnest at the end of January. "In recent years, I've been in training 12 months a year," he says, though the serious stuff -- a daily one-hour run, sprints on the track and long, 2 1/2-hour runs every other week -- begins in December. (He doesn't count the miles he puts in, as many long-distance runners obsessively do, but he says he wouldn't object to an estimate of about 50 miles a week.) Mr. Kelley always trains at 5 a.m., and alone: "It's a quiet time, no traffic; the air is fresh and sweet." His routes vary. In January, he prefers the frozen sands of the beach. With the approach of spring, he takes to the alder and scrub-pine hills and bluffs where the sun can be seen rising over Cape Cod Bay. After his morning run, he spends a couple of hours painting (still lifes and Cape Cod scenes), a hobby he took up about 25 years ago. Unlike many runners, Mr. Kelley doesn't bother with stretching exercises before he runs in the morning. "This is my warm up: I empty the dishwasher, I set up the coffeepot, but I don't plug it in. I set up the breakfast table. Then I check the outside temperature to see what clothes to wear." He and his wife, Laura, live in a two-bedroom ranch-style house here in East Dennis, with more than 350 trophies, medals and sweat-stained marathon numbers scattered about. He isn't particular about brands of shoes ("I wear them all") or what he eats ("I never eat broccoli, but I love steak and ice cream.") Mr. Kelley aims to run till he is at least 100 years old. "He's a strange man," says Laura Kelley, in awe of her husband's vigor. The 82-year-old Mrs. Kelley adds, "I just try to stay in his shadow, but I have a hard time even doing that." In a rare moment of reflection, Mr. Kelley explains what makes him tick: "I paint because I like it. I run because I like it. If for some reason I don't finish the marathon, I don't owe an apology to anyone. But I'll tell you, the Boston Marathon -- with all those people waving -- is better than my birthday." 
 NEW YORK -- An experiment with more than 1,700 high blood pressure patients showed that a blood and urine test can pinpoint those patients most likely to have a heart attack. The experiment suggests that doctors could test their patients with mild to moderate high blood pressure to determine how intensively they should be treated to prevent heart attacks, researchers said. The experiment indicated that the test can spot those patients with extremely low risk of heart attack as well as those with a high risk. The experiment also hinted that the blood and urine test, which measures the activity of a blood protein called renin, might suggest a new "risk factor" for heart attacks. About half of the 1.5 million Americans who suffer a heart attack each year don't have the known risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol levels, cigarette smoking, obesity and high blood pressure. It is unknown what distinguishes these seemingly healthy people from those who don't suffer heart attacks. The blood and urine test is already being done in many commercial laboratories but for medical conditions other than heart attack risk, said John H. Laragh of the Cardiovascular Center at Cornell University and New York Hospital. "In our hands, it cost about $40 and in other labs it may cost the patient $40 to $80," he said. Dr. Laragh pioneered the research underlying use of the test, which was developed by his wife, biochemist Jean E. Sealey. The test, which isn't patented, is available in kit form to laboratories. The blood portion of the test determines whether the kidneys are releasing renin into the blood stream and how active the chemical is. The release of renin is the first step in a rapid chemical chain reaction that raises blood pressure. The urine portion of the test tells how much salt is in the bloodstream. A high concentration of salt in the blood also raises pressure. The test is based on the fact that if the salt concentration in the blood rises, tending to boost blood pressure, the activity of the renin normally drops to offset the effect of the salt. The new experiment was designed to test a theory put forth by Dr. Laragh and his colleagues that the activity of the renin in the blood foretells a possible heart attack. The theory has provoked sometimes furious controversy for almost 20 years. The Cornell cardiologist has argued that in many people with high blood pressure the activity of the renin in the blood is much higher than is warranted by the amount of salt in the blood. Such "high renin" people are at a high risk of a heart attack. On the other hand, in other patients with high blood pressure, the activity of the renin is much lower than is warranted by the degree of salt in the blood. These "low renin" people are at a low risk of heart attack, Dr. Laragh has maintained. In the experiment, blood and urine samples were obtained at New York City offices and factories from 1,717 workers found to have mild to moderate high blood pressure. The patients' high blood pressure was initially discovered in a screening program carried out by Michael H. Alderman and his colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who operate a work-site blood pressure control program in cooperation with local unions. In 1981, Dr. Laragh's group began testing the renin activity in blood and urine samples collected by Dr. Alderman's team. They kept track of the workers for more than eight years to see which had heart attacks. The results, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, lend strong support to Dr. Laragh's theory. Only 12% of the patients had high renin "profiles." But the seven heart attacks in this small group constituted the highest incidence of heart attacks among the patients, 13 heart attacks per 1,000 person-years of observation. The incidence in the high renin patients was more than double the incidence in those with a normal renin profile -- 5.3 heart attacks per 1,000 person-years -- and more than triple that of the patients with a low renin profile, 3.3 per 1,000 person-years, Drs. Alderman, Laragh and their respective colleagues reported. Regardless of how the statisticians broke down the patients into various groups, those with high renin profiles almost invariably had the highest incidence of heart attacks. Smokers had more heart attacks than nonsmokers, but the incidence of attacks in smokers with high renin profiles was more than six times that in smokers with low renin profiles. "But the real dynamite is in the patients who didn't have any of the usual risk factors," Dr. Laragh said in an interview. Among patients who had normal blood cholesterol level and were free of diabetes, "those with high renin profiles were seven times more likely to have a myocardial infarction {heart attack} than those with normal or low renin profiles," the researchers wrote. There were no heart attacks among the 240 patients with low renin profiles who had no risk factors other than high blood pressure. To Dr. Laragh, this suggests that a high renin profile might signal a high risk of heart attack even for people without high blood pressure. "We think everybody should have this simple and accurate test," he said in the interview. "It's a new window into heart disease." In an accompanying editorial, Victor J. Dzau of Stanford University medical school said the study shows that the renin profile test is "potentially useful" in identifying high blood pressure patients who are at risk of a heart attack. But, he wrote, "a larger, population-based study will be important in confirming the results of this paper." The experiment has implications for drug makers as well as patients. Apparently by coincidence, Abbott Laboratories announced on Tuesday that is developing a high blood pressure drug that works by inhibiting the activity of renin. Other major drug makers are thought to also be working on renin inhibitors. The experiment hints these drugs might also protect patients from heart attacks. A big-selling class of high blood pressure drugs, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Corp.'s Capoten and Merck &amp; Co.'s Vasotec, are known as ACE inhibitors because they work by stopping renin in the blood from being converted to a second chemical called angiotensin. Studies are under way to see if these ACE inhibitors protect patients against heart attacks as well as lower their blood pressure. 
 LONDON -- Following his takeover of the unprofitable New York Daily News, British publisher Robert Maxwell plans to raise around #250 million ($448 million) through the sale of shares in his Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd. of Britain. In a flotation organized by Samuel Montagu &amp; Co., Mirror is to sell 45% to 49% of its shares to investors in Britain and abroad. Terms will be set April 30. The offering is expected to value Mirror Group at more than #500 million. Mirror's flagship publication is the tabloid Daily Mirror, with sales of three million copies daily. Last month, in another money-raising move, Mr. Maxwell's Maxwell Communication Corp. sold its Pergamon Press PLC unit for #440 million. In other changes, Mr. Maxwell's son Ian, who has been appointed deputy chairman of Mirror Group, will resign from his post at Maxwell Communication, where he was joint deputy managing director. Maxwell Communication said last month that its management would be taken over by Kevin Maxwell, Ian's brother. Robert Maxwell bought Mirror Group in 1984 from Reed International PLC for #113 million. Through staff cuts and heavy spending on printing facilities, Mr. Maxwell built Mirror into one of Britain's most profitable newspaper groups. In 1990, Mirror had profit of #37.2 million, or 28.2 pence a share, on revenue of #445 million. Proceeds from the share flotation will be used to strengthen and refinance the group's balance sheet. About #210 million will be used to pay back bank loans and the rest to pay in full a loan from Robert Maxwell Holdings Ltd. Salomon Bros. International is underwriting the international part of the offering, covering approximately one-third of the shares on sale, to be privately placed with institutional investors in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The other two-thirds of the shares are to be divided between private and institutional investors in Britain. A relatively low minimum-investment figure of #250 has been set to attract small investors, particularly readers of Mirror publications. 
 WASHINGTON -- President Bush plans to name United Nations Ambassador Thomas Pickering as U.S. envoy to India, and appoint the current head of the foreign service to succeed him. The White House, according to a U.S. official, hasn't yet informed the Senate, which must confirm the nominations of Mr. Pickering and Foreign Service Director General Edward Perkins, a former U.S. envoy to South Africa. With the end of the Cold War, the U.N. is playing an increasingly important role in working to resolve regional disputes. It has led efforts to end civil wars in El Salvador and Cambodia, and it also helped monitor elections in Namibia. Last Friday, during an unprecedented U.N. Security Council meeting of heads of state, President Bush reaffirmed the U.N.'s leading role in peacemaking. The assignment in India could be an important one. India and its neighbor Pakistan remain embroiled in a long, bitter feud that has the potential of becoming one of the world's few remaining nuclear standoffs. Mr. Pickering was one of President Bush's first ambassadorial appointments. He served at the U.N. during the time the administration was involved in the delicate negotiations that led to the formation of the coalition against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War and the U.N. sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime. But some senior State Department officials have been irritated by what they call Mr. Pickering's propensity for the media spotlight. During the 1980s, when the Reagan administration drew the line against communist-backed insurgences in Central America, Mr. Pickering played an active role in that effort as U.S. envoy to El Salvador. Mr. Perkins was the U.S. ambassador to South Africa in 1986, when the U.S. imposed economic sanctions against that nation's white-minority government to pressure it to end apartheid. Mr. Perkins, who is black, traveled widely across South Africa during this period, making sure he was seen in black townships, attending church services and funerals, as well as in white communities. Mr. Pickering, reached over the weekend, refused to comment on his future plans, and Mr. Perkins couldn't be reached.